Garden thread

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Replies

  • SuzanneC1l9zz
    SuzanneC1l9zz Posts: 444 Member
    My pak choy has drowned 😢 It just Will. Not. Stop. RAINING here. Like downpours, every single day. Not a great year so far for the garden!
  • mtaratoot
    mtaratoot Posts: 10,753 Member
    SuzanneC1l9zz wrote: »
    My pak choy has drowned 😢 It just Will. Not. Stop. RAINING here. Like downpours, every single day. Not a great year so far for the garden!

    I think my garlic drowned. It had been dealing with a bunch of weeds late winter, but it was too wet to pull them. And then.... the rain kept, and I think all that beautiful garlic just rotted in the ground. Very sad. I think my neighbor's garlic suffered the same fate.
  • Fuzzipeg
    Fuzzipeg Posts: 2,296 Member
    Please can you send you rain this way. I'm very sorry you both have had crop losses. I hope other things you have planted fare better.
  • MsCzar
    MsCzar Posts: 1,012 Member
    Never planted pak choy before and thought it might regrow from kitchen scraps. The cores immediately bolted - but now I have many MANY seed pods. Will do some homework and try for a late fall crop.
    Beans are about a week out and cukes maybe two. In the mean time, I'm enjoying Swiss chard, beet green and sweet pea pod salads every other day or so. I pick wild black raspberries every day at sun-up and sun-down. Debating about making preserves.
  • mtaratoot
    mtaratoot Posts: 10,753 Member
    Yay!

    Potatoes!
  • foxglove999
    foxglove999 Posts: 3 Member
    It's been a cold wet spring so everything is about 3 weeks behind. I'm currently harvesting lettuce, spinach, radishes, snap peas and a couple cherries. There will be no peaches or plums this year because of the weather, that makes me sad. But it looks like there will be a great crop of marionberries and looking forward to apples and crabapples late summer.
  • LoveyChar
    LoveyChar Posts: 4,304 Member
    @DiscoveringLisa That is very impressive! Yum...
  • DiscoveringLisa
    DiscoveringLisa Posts: 112 Member
    LoveyChar wrote: »
    @DiscoveringLisa That is very impressive! Yum...

    Thank you, they are delicious as well !
  • DiscoveringLisa
    DiscoveringLisa Posts: 112 Member
    I want to plant artichokes at the back of my garden but I was trying to turn the soil over and prepare the ground today and it was really hard. I have a claw/tiller thingy but I'm still not getting more than half an inch into the soil. Any advice?
  • mtaratoot
    mtaratoot Posts: 10,753 Member
    DiscoveringLisa wrote: »
    I want to plant artichokes at the back of my garden but I was trying to turn the soil over and prepare the ground today and it was really hard. I have a claw/tiller thingy but I'm still not getting more than half an inch into the soil. Any advice?

    Water it and wait a day or so. Rent a roto-tiller.
  • DiscoveringLisa
    DiscoveringLisa Posts: 112 Member
    mtaratoot wrote: »
    DiscoveringLisa wrote: »
    I want to plant artichokes at the back of my garden but I was trying to turn the soil over and prepare the ground today and it was really hard. I have a claw/tiller thingy but I'm still not getting more than half an inch into the soil. Any advice?

    Water it and wait a day or so. Rent a roto-tiller.

    Thanks. I've just soaked it with the hose and I think it is going to rain tomorrow so fingers crossed that does the trick
  • mtaratoot
    mtaratoot Posts: 10,753 Member
    DiscoveringLisa wrote: »
    mtaratoot wrote: »
    DiscoveringLisa wrote: »
    I want to plant artichokes at the back of my garden but I was trying to turn the soil over and prepare the ground today and it was really hard. I have a claw/tiller thingy but I'm still not getting more than half an inch into the soil. Any advice?

    Water it and wait a day or so. Rent a roto-tiller.

    Thanks. I've just soaked it with the hose and I think it is going to rain tomorrow so fingers crossed that does the trick

    Trick is finding the right moisture content. Too dry and you're trying to break up concrete. Too wet and you'll compact the soil. If you can till or dig in a bunch of organic matter, you'll do yourself and your plants a big favor. This is especially true with something like artichokes that can become perennial.

    Sad to say, I had to nuke all the rest of my main patch of artichokes. Ants undermined the root systems. I have another small patch I can still harvest. I brought in the only four that were still edible from the main patch. I could only leave two more to blossom for the pollinators and for my enjoyment. The rest were all lying on the ground. I brought two of those in and put them in a vase to see if they'll bloom indoors.

    Now I am "feeding the ants." Terro that is. So. Many. Ants.

  • DiscoveringLisa
    DiscoveringLisa Posts: 112 Member
    mtaratoot wrote: »
    DiscoveringLisa wrote: »
    mtaratoot wrote: »
    DiscoveringLisa wrote: »
    I want to plant artichokes at the back of my garden but I was trying to turn the soil over and prepare the ground today and it was really hard. I have a claw/tiller thingy but I'm still not getting more than half an inch into the soil. Any advice?

    Water it and wait a day or so. Rent a roto-tiller.

    Thanks. I've just soaked it with the hose and I think it is going to rain tomorrow so fingers crossed that does the trick

    Trick is finding the right moisture content. Too dry and you're trying to break up concrete. Too wet and you'll compact the soil. If you can till or dig in a bunch of organic matter, you'll do yourself and your plants a big favor. This is especially true with something like artichokes that can become perennial.

    Sad to say, I had to nuke all the rest of my main patch of artichokes. Ants undermined the root systems. I have another small patch I can still harvest. I brought in the only four that were still edible from the main patch. I could only leave two more to blossom for the pollinators and for my enjoyment. The rest were all lying on the ground. I brought two of those in and put them in a vase to see if they'll bloom indoors.

    Now I am "feeding the ants." Terro that is. So. Many. Ants.

    Oh no, it's so sad when pesky pests ruin your hard work 😩 The main problem here is birds and slugs but I've solved that with netting. I'll see what the soil is like in a couple of days and try and till it again. I really want big beautiful artichokes!
  • mtaratoot
    mtaratoot Posts: 10,753 Member
    @DiscoveringLisa

    I used to net my blueberries. I caught a bird one time. I saw it out there and was pissed it had found its way underneath the net and was feasting. Well, it actually was just caught in the net. It was getting to be dusk. I ran back inside and got some scissors. I cut out a big chunk of the net, held the bird in my hand, and walked out front to a streetlight so I could see. I carefully cut the netting away from the bird's leg. I got it almost all off. On the last strand, the bird tried to get away and I nicked its leg. So sad. It flew off. Either it was fine, or a raptor had a nice supper. The next day I removed all the netting and have never put it back up. I finally did find a good place for it -- the landfill.

    I now share my harvest with the other residents. The reason those scrub jays are blue is... my blueberries. You'd think there would be more red birds since my cherries get devastated every year....

    The ants only started to be an issue three years ago. Never before would I ever have considered trying to eliminate ants outside. That's where they live. But there's a megacolony that I've been battling for years. I will never win, but maybe I can make small victories and have better outcomes in the garden. Today's weather was cooler, so the ants were out eating all day. They ate a lot of the Terro I put out. I will put some more out later.
  • SuzanneC1l9zz
    SuzanneC1l9zz Posts: 444 Member
    @mtaratoot oh nooo!
  • DiscoveringLisa
    DiscoveringLisa Posts: 112 Member
    mtaratoot wrote: »
    @DiscoveringLisa

    I used to net my blueberries. I caught a bird one time. I saw it out there and was pissed it had found its way underneath the net and was feasting. Well, it actually was just caught in the net. It was getting to be dusk. I ran back inside and got some scissors. I cut out a big chunk of the net, held the bird in my hand, and walked out front to a streetlight so I could see. I carefully cut the netting away from the bird's leg. I got it almost all off. On the last strand, the bird tried to get away and I nicked its leg. So sad. It flew off. Either it was fine, or a raptor had a nice supper. The next day I removed all the netting and have never put it back up. I finally did find a good place for it -- the landfill.

    I now share my harvest with the other residents. The reason those scrub jays are blue is... my blueberries. You'd think there would be more red birds since my cherries get devastated every year....

    The ants only started to be an issue three years ago. Never before would I ever have considered trying to eliminate ants outside. That's where they live. But there's a megacolony that I've been battling for years. I will never win, but maybe I can make small victories and have better outcomes in the garden. Today's weather was cooler, so the ants were out eating all day. They ate a lot of the Terro I put out. I will put some more out later.

    Oh no, I do love birds, I wouldn't want to hurt them. I just want them to stay the hell away from my seeds 🤣😂 My dog is useless, he just lies in the garden watching them munching through my produce. Maybe I'll employ a cat 🐱🤣
  • mtaratoot
    mtaratoot Posts: 10,753 Member
    @DiscoveringLisa

    Oh, I get it. I wonder if there were some kind of netting I could use to exclude slugs and ants I'd get on it. I've for SURE had crows and jays eat pea seeds freshly planted. If they sprout, they have to run the gauntlet of slugs until they're a little bigger. Then the ants seem to somehow destroy the roots of some plants. Good thing I like playing with plants!

    I grazed on blueberries and raspberries yesterday and helped myself to a pint of strawberries from the next door garden so they'll keep producing. I've been eating so many sugar peas trying to keep up with them. If my neighbor doesn't get home soon, there will be lots of little yellow squashes. I'm being vigilant with the zucchini so they'll keep producing. Once some of those start to have mature seeds, the plant stops fruiting. I think she'll have melons later in the year; I bet she'll share. I'm jealous of her amazing space, but I also know how much time she takes loving it.

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