Garden thread
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In trying to beat the slugs to my strawberries, I went to the local hardware store to buy Sluggo, as suggested on MFP, yesterday. All out due to supply chains.
One guy showed me Seven and I asked if it was organic...oh no, lots of poisons in that stuff. 
Tell me why they still sell *kitten* like that. Anyways, they also suggested the beer thing, along with cutting an orange or grapefruit in half and placing it cut side down, then next morning it'll be covered in slugs and you can just throw it away. JIC someone needed another 'kill the slugs' idea. 
Sluggo is good stuff. Iron phosphate. Non-toxic. Slugs do eat it and then that's their end. I use it. I also use home-made bait traps. I used to use beer. Works OK. Most slugs drown, but some find their way out and stumble home. I now add a little flour to make a very thin paste. They don't get out.
Lately, instead of beer, I just proof a little baking yeast with some warm water and sugar (just a little), then make a VERY thin dough/batter with just flour and water. I pour this into some containers and put that out. It's the smell of fermentation that attracts them. Some cheap beer doesn't smell enough like fermentation to attract them as well.
I also leave out snake habitat. Garter snakes eat slugs. Sadly, that also can be slug habitat.
I have definitely struggled with slugs in the past. This year they really pissed me off. I have some oak logs that are inoculated with shiitake. One of them had just barely started to fruit. You couldn't even identify the little growth as a mushroom, but it was. Well, the next morning there was just some dried slug slime on the log and no mushrooms. So now that they started this war, I will go win it.
The flour/water/yeast solution is probably cheaper than Sluggo. There are other brands of slug baits that use iron phosphate. They should be just as good as Sluggo. Look for those. Definitely avoid the other slug killers that are made with metaldehyde. That stuff does work, but it's poisonous to people and animals.1 -
Thai, Genovese, cinnamon, sweet, and lemon are different types of basil, interesting. I just want the kind that goes in spaghetti sauce...Genovese?
Add purple basil.0 -
Matador Spinach seedlings
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Had the first home grown salad of the year! Swiss chard, lettuce and beet greens with store bought carrots, onion, daikon, broccoli and hard boiled egg.4
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What do y'all think of this for three spaghetti squash plants? Any thoughts, opinions, and suggestions are welcomed. Thank you!
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What do y'all think of this for three spaghetti squash plants? Any thoughts, opinions, and suggestions are welcomed. Thank you!
There's a bit of variety-specific variation to this: The seed company I've most often used has long-vine, short-vine, semi-bush varieties of spaghetti squash. (Other companies seem to be introducing bush types, too, intended for smaller-pot culture. Tivoli is an example, reportedly about 3 feet wide.)
If you have trouble with squash vine borers, and plant long-vine squash, you'd probably want a bigger area (so you can encourage the vines to send down roots from nodes, not just the plant base). The longer vine types are more likely to want more total soil, too, IMO, with semi-bush or bush types maybe willing to do well in a smaller pot.
The one you posted looks pretty big, seems like it'd be OK for bush, semi-bush, maybe short-vine. I'm a little more skeptical about long-vine, especially if there are squash vine borers. Guessing, though.2 -
@LoveyChar
I really prefer to grow in soil... in the ground. I've never been a big fan of planters, although as I ran out of space last year I put one tomato in a big plastic pot as an experiment. I am fortunate to have good soil. It still benefits from amendments. You can build good soil over time. That would be my focus, and it is.
I do grow some ornamental perennial plants in pots.2 -
@AnnPT77 Thank you. I have no idea what they are. I ordered seeds off of Etsy, company called Back To Nature and all I know is that they're organic spaghetti squash seeds. I appreciate your input. I'm going to see if I can find out more, whether bush or vine...
Purely a wild guess, but if they don't say on the web site or the packet, long-vine seems more probable, especially if it's advertised as an heirloom variety. IME it's more common for old-school varieties of squash, cucumber, and similar vining things to be long-vine, with the more compact hybrid varieties something that has become more popular in the more recent decades, with smaller home gardens and the popularity of growing veggies in pots.
When someone has a large garden space, as would've been more common in subsistence-farming days, the long vine types have some advantages, such as being more prolific (generally), but they do take up a lot of space.2 -
@LoveyChar
I really prefer to grow in soil... in the ground. I've never been a big fan of planters, although as I ran out of space last year I put one tomato in a big plastic pot as an experiment. I am fortunate to have good soil. It still benefits from amendments. You can build good soil over time. That would be my focus, and it is.
I do grow some ornamental perennial plants in pots.
Thank you for the input. I have no idea what my soil is like. I have a raised garden bed and everything else is in pots. We've got room for a small garden and now I'm thinking about it, just seems better the more I think about it.2 -
@AnnPT77 Thank you. I have no idea what they are. I ordered seeds off of Etsy, company called Back To Nature and all I know is that they're organic spaghetti squash seeds. I appreciate your input. I'm going to see if I can find out more, whether bush or vine...
Purely a wild guess, but if they don't say on the web site or the packet, long-vine seems more probable, especially if it's advertised as an heirloom variety. IME it's more common for old-school varieties of squash, cucumber, and similar vining things to be long-vine, with the more compact hybrid varieties something that has become more popular in the more recent decades, with smaller home gardens and the popularity of growing veggies in pots.
When someone has a large garden space, as would've been more common in subsistence-farming days, the long vine types have some advantages, such as being more prolific (generally), but they do take up a lot of space.
Thank you. They're heirloom seeds and the seedlings will be two weeks tomorrow and they're super long already. I'm stopping at three plants and I think I'm going to put them in the ground and pay special attention to how they grow. I know you can vine them up on a trellis or let them grow rogue but squash rot may become an issue there. It's one big learning experience.1 -
I have a big expansion this year! Growing lots of tomatoes for canning, some potatoes, and am going to try sweet potatoes (not sure how productive they'll be this far north...). Lots of brassicas, onions, and salad greens. And of course - garlic - the best food ever as far as I'm concerned!
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Seed storage questions:
1) What is the longest your seeds have ever lasted?
2) How do you store them?
I had seeds, store bought, that I purchased in 2020. I stored them in an airtight Mason jar in the refrigerator and they're still good. I'm just wondering what's the longest period of time for y'all.
There's no way I can use all the seeds I bought so I'll store them. I didn't realize until now that I actually bought 60 spinach seeds and 40 of each onion.
Longest my seeds have ever lasted, some beans and heirloom tomato seeds started about 10 years after purchase, Marianna's Peace especially (tomato). They were in the house in a cupboard, this year they're in a tin and baggies.1 -
@LoveyChar I'm growing zucchini and summer squash in grow bags this year, 5-10 gallon ones (two in the bigger ones or one and a pepper plant). I did grow a zuchinni and a butternut squash in 5 gallon buckets and they did great. I've had about 10 zucchini and squash so far this year. Your peppers look amazing, for the most part here (9B Sacramento area) the peppers do better in fall but I'm getting some gypsy ones.1
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Here's my veggie section, I let my lawn go this year because of the drought but am hoping I'll still be able to keep most of these, it's tomatoes, peppers, zucchini, squash varieties, cucumbers, melon, then at the end of the walkway is all my beans, peas, lemongrass, lemon balm, then the rest of the herbs are on the deck. All the tomatoes are on those PVC trellises, really crossing my fingers they survive so many! I planted a bunch of flowers in with everything this year for pollinators and it's going well so far, mostly edible flowers then I brought home a mix of sunflower seeds from Take a Plant Leaf a Plant stands where you can swap plants with people.
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Ok so, my green pepper plants have been in the ground 3-4 weeks. They're the same size as when we planted. Why aren't they growing? Or am I too impatient? Everything else is doing okay.1
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@Katmary71 I love hearing that about the success growing in grow bags and I love love love your garden, so nice and neat!0
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Planning th garden for next year? I've got to completely repair the one i already have thanks to our new puppy Stanley (a collie/bulldog cross) who has chewed plants, pots and dug up the lawn! Now he's settled down I've got to dog proof and restart :-)5
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Ok so, my green pepper plants have been in the ground 3-4 weeks. They're the same size as when we planted. Why aren't they growing? Or am I too impatient? Everything else is doing okay.
They are probably growing slowly. First they need to get their roots established, then they can grow in size. They may be larger than when you put them in the ground but growing slowly enough you don't notice.
Are they getting good nutrition? They are plants, so they don't need as much exercise as we humans do.
The weeds in my garden are growing so fast I think I can WATCH them grow. But there's still artichokes...
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We had a storm that took down a maple in our yard yesterday, but somehow my tomato plant didn't snap off. Noteworthy because it's quite a bit taller than both its stake and its cage (remedying that today, once we're done dealing with the fallen tree).2
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@ReenieHJ it might be a climate thing (I'm in zone 3) but I don't find pepper plants increase very noticeably in size from buying the bedding plants to them producing peppers.1
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SuzanneC1l9zz wrote: »@ReenieHJ it might be a climate thing (I'm in zone 3) but I don't find pepper plants increase very noticeably in size from buying the bedding plants to them producing peppers.
Thanks. I'm hoping these poor little plants play catch-up during the next 2 months. I've never done well growing green peppers. Yet my neighbor, last summer, was plucking 6-8 peppers off his plants daily. Oh well......
@mtaratoot Yeh, I think I'm just being impatient is all. Maybe if I talk nice to them? All I do for feeding any of my plants, is use compost when I plant them along with some Black Cow Manure. I've used Miracle-Gro in the past but it doesn't seem to make much difference for me. IDK.
Hey, another question for gardeners here. Does anyone grow mushrooms? I was thinking of that this morning, cutting up mushrooms for my omelet and realizing how much that omelet was costing me. Mushrooms are just another one of those things that have been hit hard by inflation and I might stop buying them. Last week, they were 2.49 for an 10 oz. package, this week they were 2.99. 1 -
SuzanneC1l9zz wrote: »@ReenieHJ it might be a climate thing (I'm in zone 3) but I don't find pepper plants increase very noticeably in size from buying the bedding plants to them producing peppers.
Thanks. I'm hoping these poor little plants play catch-up during the next 2 months. I've never done well growing green peppers. Yet my neighbor, last summer, was plucking 6-8 peppers off his plants daily. Oh well......
@mtaratoot Yeh, I think I'm just being impatient is all. Maybe if I talk nice to them? All I do for feeding any of my plants, is use compost when I plant them along with some Black Cow Manure. I've used Miracle-Gro in the past but it doesn't seem to make much difference for me. IDK.
Hey, another question for gardeners here. Does anyone grow mushrooms? I was thinking of that this morning, cutting up mushrooms for my omelet and realizing how much that omelet was costing me. Mushrooms are just another one of those things that have been hit hard by inflation and I might stop buying them. Last week, they were 2.49 for an 10 oz. package, this week they were 2.99.
Definitely talk nice to them. You don't want them to turn into Triffids or Audrey.
Some people might think it's gross, but urine can make a very effective fertilizer. It contains not only nitrogen but also phosphorus. Recently there was a project in Michigan to utilize urine. It was called "Pee for the Peonies." They had to change the name from pee ON the peonies because some people were actually doing that. Just like any fertilizer, too much is not better than the right amount.
I have a few shiitake logs. A friend worked for a company that makes mushroom spawn for over 27 years and recently took a hiatus. It's a slow process. You get a fresh log from an oak or other tree with thick bark (oak works best) that has lots of sapwood and little heartwood. Drill holes in a certain pattern, then tap in wood dowels that have been inoculated with spawn. Keep them from drying out, but don't drown 'em. If you inoculate in the fall, you might get mushrooms the next year. Depends on a number of things.
You can also grow mushrooms in sawdust or grain. It's easier, but not as much fun.
There's also a mushroom you can cultivate in your yard. It's the Wine-Red Stropharia. You dig a trench, fill it with wood chips, inoculate it with spawn, then bury it. Wait for six months, and then be sure you can identify the mushrooms when they fruit. They can continue fruiting for several years.
You probably won't save money growing your own mushrooms, but if you calculated how much those homegrown tomatoes cost..... One reason I like to grow beets is because I love 'em, and they are cheaper to grow than buy. Potatoes are easy to grow, but they're cheap. Artichokes? Well, I don't have to replenish them, and they are so much better than store-bought. I think the berries are very cost effective over time. The blueberry bushes were already well established when I bought my house 20 years ago, and they still give lots of fruit. Same with the fruit trees. Just.... all at once so there's a fair bit of work to preserve them. I wonder how much it costs to run my dehydrator. Same cost, probably, when it's full as when it's half-full. I have no problem filling it in season.
I remember one time when my dad visited during the time figs were ripe. I have three different kinds. They are delicious. We went down to the farmers market, and he pointed at a small basket of figs and the cost and looked at me in wonder. I said, "Yeah. I know." We went home and picked more figs....4 -
@mtaratoot Very enlightening and informative.
It sounds like you produce all the produce you need, and then some. 1 -
@mtaratoot Very enlightening and informative.
It sounds like you produce all the produce you need, and then some.
Oh heavens no. I buy lots of produce at the market. I actually have a very small area for growing annuals. I definitely produce an excess of the things I grow, but they don't go to waste. I use my dehydrator, and I share with friends. I am considering getting in touch with our food bank to see if they can use some of my excess. I support them with dollars, and I wonder how much they might like to have home-grown produce. I did plant three tomatoes but only because my neighbor shared some of her starts. Blueberries have almost-ripe fruit now; I'm so excited. Raspberries too. Grapes still aren't even flowering. Blackberries are WEEKS away. Pears are months away, as are figs and plums.4 -
Garden update: I talked to husband about in-ground garden and he said that it'd take a year to cultivate our soil and that after we did, our runner grass would grow through and destroy it. Even if there's any truth to this, I'm assuming he didn't want to have an in-ground garden but he assured me that I could do it.
So... I have two garden beds coming. 8×4×1
My Spaghetti Squash and zucchini plants are thriving. I very much see the viney-ness of the Spaghetti Squash as they firmly and strongly want to vine outward. The biggest on the far right is sprouting a fifth leaf. So as soon as I get my beds, these are going in.
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@LoveyChar
It's not a bad idea AT ALL to spend a year getting garden soil ready for planting if it's been "lawn" for some time. You'll fight a lot fewer weeds, and you can build up the soil along the way.
There are ways to slow down grasses that spread by rhizome. The simplest, but least long-lasting, is just to use some kind of spade to go around the border of the garden a few times a year and sever the roots. You'll still want to pull up as much of the cut plants as possible. You can also put "border" material down in the soil. That will physically stop the rhizomes from growing through. If you know anyone who is taking down an old wooden fence, the fence boards would really help that. I'm pretty sure they sell plastic and metal borders. One advantage (and disadvantage) to wood is that eventually it will rot away. Plastic is forever. Metal may also "go away," but not as fast as wood. Old metal roofing might be the ticket here. It probably wouldn't hurt to have a WIDE path around the outside of the garden where you don't plant. Kill any invading grasses with a weed torch or any other methods.
You will improve your soil by adding organic matter. If you add some now and let it decay, then add more before you plant next year, you'll be glad you did. There's easy ways to add OM to established gardens. Compost tea works. Composted manure works. I've heard llama manure doesn't need to be composted. For sure chicken needs to be composted. Another trick is alfalfa pellets. Horse food, not rabbit food. Basically you let someone else grow a cover crop for you!
If I was starting over right now on a new garden for next year, I would:- Rent a rototiller and till the soil deeply when it's at a good moisture content.
- Till in a bunch of organic matter. Around here, mint compost is awesome, but it will have some pesticide residue because they use Karmex).
- If you have access, also till in some chicken manure.
- When you're done, cover the entire garden, plus a bit around the edges, with CLEAR plastic. Not black plastic. Black plastic will keep out the light. Clear plastic acts as a greenhouse to solarize the soil. This will kill some of those rhizomatous grasses, and it can kill a lot of weed seeds that otherwise will be a bane for years to come. Leave the plastic out most all summer long. Bake the snot out of the soil! This will also drive away the worms, but they'll come back.
- Just before fall, pull off the plastic, till in some more organic matter, and plant a winter cover crop. Oh yeah! Winter rye, crimson clover, or even fava beans.
- Next spring - early spring, cut down the cover crop and till it into the soil.
- Wait a week, and VOILA - a really nice garden.
It's a lot of work, yes. It's not a lot of fun. But maybe it is. It's a hobby!
And some of the weeds will creep back. Stay vigilant or your garden will end up looking like mine. I'm considering taking a year off to do some weed management. Maybe I should just plant a summer cover crop like rye and see what THAT does.5 -
@mtaratoot Lots of good information, wow! I'll take notes, seriously. Thank you...1
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I've mentioned this before but I've never eaten a fresh artichoke (only the ones in the can to make spinach and artichoke dip) before as some things are more/less popular in different regions. I was raised in PA. I remember one year when I was very young, my aunt baked a rhubarb pie one Thanksgiving and I didn't eat it, still have yet to try that one also. We did eat potatoes and onions, radishes, cucumbers, and Butternut Squash most of the time.
Anyway, I never ate okra until I moved to Texas. People I know fry it here; at least that seems to be a popular way to cook it. My ex-husband's mother cooked every single green vegetable she ever had in bacon grease, super delicious, very good country cooking. Anyway, Bush's Chicken has the best deep fried okra and most local country cooking restaurants serve it like that. Anyway, my fifteen-year-old daughter asked me if I would grow okra for her because she wants to pickle it.
So I'm going to order some seeds, because I love her, and she can pickle it. Next time my husband cooks bacon, I'll save the grease. Maybe we'll have some fried okra this fall and some pickled, too.
Here's delicious Anaheim Peppers cut straight off the plant for my nachos tonight:
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The artichokes in jars are just the heart. You have to do some pulling and eating work through the petals of the flower before you "eat the heart out."
Pickled okra is awesome. In Texas, you can grow it. I can't. I've heard rumors of people finding ways to get enough growing degree days to make it work, but it's tough here. That's OK.
One thing I miss from the south is boiled peanuts. Maybe this October I'll get someone to ship me a bushel bag of green peanuts (not dried). I'll boil 'em all and have a big party.2
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