Garden thread
Replies
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kshama2001 wrote: »
Thank you! I used leaves last year but didn't do a very good job because they all blew away lol. I guess I should mulch them up first. I think I'll probably use grass clippings because my leaves are all stuffed into my compost with rotting food on top of them and I'm not going there.
I have a little surprise tomato plant that sprouted in my garden a little too close to the zucchini... For some reason I'm really excited about him, I think I'm going to try and move him to a safer location.
I use fine dark hardwood mulch in my "fancy" garden areas (the perennial beds closer to the street or that we are close to daily) but I primarily use grass on my vegetable beds, unless I am organized enough to leave a bale or two of straw out over the winter so the wetness kills any seeds that might sprout. The grass works really well and it's free; I just add it an inch at a time and build up layers over the summer. But I really prefer the rotted straw as it's so light and does a wonderful job of holding down weeds and preserving moisture, plus it looks cute.
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French_Peasant wrote: »kshama2001 wrote: »
Thank you! I used leaves last year but didn't do a very good job because they all blew away lol. I guess I should mulch them up first. I think I'll probably use grass clippings because my leaves are all stuffed into my compost with rotting food on top of them and I'm not going there.
I have a little surprise tomato plant that sprouted in my garden a little too close to the zucchini... For some reason I'm really excited about him, I think I'm going to try and move him to a safer location.
I use fine dark hardwood mulch in my "fancy" garden areas (the perennial beds closer to the street or that we are close to daily) but I primarily use grass on my vegetable beds, unless I am organized enough to leave a bale or two of straw out over the winter so the wetness kills any seeds that might sprout. The grass works really well and it's free; I just add it an inch at a time and build up layers over the summer. But I really prefer the rotted straw as it's so light and does a wonderful job of holding down weeds and preserving moisture, plus it looks cute.
That was a valuable tip - regular hay does indeed contain seeds that will sprout. I buy straw, which is a little more expensive, but is supposed to not have sproutable seeds. I do get a few, but it is manageable.1 -
carakirkey wrote: »Sharing pics of my community garden plot from May. The spinach overwintered from a fall planting and is HUGE! 2 leaves and I have a salad.
I have spinach envy! First my garden center didn't have any seedlings, and then I bought Swiss chard by mistake. I was able to get rid of that at a plant swap though, but never managed to plant any spinach, which has to be started early here in Massachusetts as it will bolt once it gets hot.
I do have spinach seeds - will start them this summer.1 -
I plant spinach early spring, and in the fall for 2 crops. It gets hot here too so the greens will start bolting in the summer. Spinach is one of my favorite things to grow, and I eat it nearly everyday!
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@French_Peasant THANKS! my plot is I think 20ft by 30ft? Big, and large enough to grow everything I could hope to. I also assist with the adjacent plot for my kids Elementary school. This garden has 37 plots and there is always a wait list, so quite popular. There are dozens of community gardens around the city, organized under a community garden association with support from the city. And then each neighborhood garden has a volunteer coordinator. Its been a great experience for me to have a community garden plot. Its ready to go with quality soil and I even inherited some chives and chinese garlic chives from the previous gardeners. It gets me out walking daily to go water or harvest the plot, and involved with my community and the school.French_Peasant wrote: »Wow, what a gorgeous plot, @carakirkey! How big is your plot, and how is your community garden organized? It looks like it's a pretty big operation.
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carakirkey wrote: »I plant spinach early spring, and in the fall for 2 crops. It gets hot here too so the greens will start bolting in the summer. Spinach is one of my favorite things to grow, and I eat it nearly everyday!
@carakirkey what gardening zone are you in and when do you plant in spring and fall? And are you talking planting seeds or seedlings?0 -
@kshama2001 Zone 7. Okanagan BC, so quite desert like and gets hot (30-35C) in the summer. Winters we get snow, but usually average winter temp of -5C. We had a really mild winter recently, so the spinach was able to over winter from the fall crop. I plant seeds directly.1
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carakirkey wrote: »@kshama2001 Zone 7. Okanagan BC, so quite desert like and gets hot (30-35C) in the summer. Winters we get snow, but usually average winter temp of -5C. We had a really mild winter recently, so the spinach was able to over winter from the fall crop. I plant seeds directly.
I was in Kamloops once for business - beautiful country and very nice people! If it weren't for all my family here, that's where I'd move.0 -
Just caught up on this thread. I spent this morning weeding the community bed that happens to be in front of my house (it's really a city-owned buffer in front of the curb that originally had grass in it but was replanted). Because of the location I feel bad if it looks unkempt.
I should take photos of my backyard raised bed, although it turned out different than expected (I paid someone to build and fill it, and he asked if I wanted it to be rabbit-proofed, which I did, but didn't realize would mean making it raised a lot higher (I had expected mesh around it, not that it would be more raised, but I'm okay with it as is).
My CSA is delayed this year because it's been so wet.3 -
My peonies are popping!
Those are clematis climbing up the shed in back - those will be popping any day now.9 -
@kshama2001 your peonies and irises are gorgeous! @lemurcat2 I have been waiting VERY patiently to see pics of your new raised bed, and hear how it's going! If the bed's too tall, it sounds like a good opportunity to plant some ornamentals that will cascade down the sides--black or chartreuse sweet potato vine really pops with some orange marigolds, although of course it takes away from veg planting space.1
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Sorted out all my strawberry runners etc yesterday. Took a few hours but planted out lots into gaps and the empty row and the rest into pots. Gained about 50 plants, quite a few extras in punnets/pots. We got our mulch delivered to cover us through winter spring, quite daunting, many wheelbarrow loads but it will mean all our trees will have mulch. Plus burning calories with doing mulching is great.
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kshama2001 wrote: »French_Peasant wrote: »kshama2001 wrote: »
Thank you! I used leaves last year but didn't do a very good job because they all blew away lol. I guess I should mulch them up first. I think I'll probably use grass clippings because my leaves are all stuffed into my compost with rotting food on top of them and I'm not going there.
I have a little surprise tomato plant that sprouted in my garden a little too close to the zucchini... For some reason I'm really excited about him, I think I'm going to try and move him to a safer location.
I use fine dark hardwood mulch in my "fancy" garden areas (the perennial beds closer to the street or that we are close to daily) but I primarily use grass on my vegetable beds, unless I am organized enough to leave a bale or two of straw out over the winter so the wetness kills any seeds that might sprout. The grass works really well and it's free; I just add it an inch at a time and build up layers over the summer. But I really prefer the rotted straw as it's so light and does a wonderful job of holding down weeds and preserving moisture, plus it looks cute.
That was a valuable tip - regular hay does indeed contain seeds that will sprout. I buy straw, which is a little more expensive, but is supposed to not have sproutable seeds. I do get a few, but it is manageable.
I used grass clippings in one of my beds, and my husband seems to think that's a terrible idea because I'll just be planting grass.... I guess we will see.0 -
kshama2001 wrote: »French_Peasant wrote: »kshama2001 wrote: »
Thank you! I used leaves last year but didn't do a very good job because they all blew away lol. I guess I should mulch them up first. I think I'll probably use grass clippings because my leaves are all stuffed into my compost with rotting food on top of them and I'm not going there.
I have a little surprise tomato plant that sprouted in my garden a little too close to the zucchini... For some reason I'm really excited about him, I think I'm going to try and move him to a safer location.
I use fine dark hardwood mulch in my "fancy" garden areas (the perennial beds closer to the street or that we are close to daily) but I primarily use grass on my vegetable beds, unless I am organized enough to leave a bale or two of straw out over the winter so the wetness kills any seeds that might sprout. The grass works really well and it's free; I just add it an inch at a time and build up layers over the summer. But I really prefer the rotted straw as it's so light and does a wonderful job of holding down weeds and preserving moisture, plus it looks cute.
That was a valuable tip - regular hay does indeed contain seeds that will sprout. I buy straw, which is a little more expensive, but is supposed to not have sproutable seeds. I do get a few, but it is manageable.
I used grass clippings in one of my beds, and my husband seems to think that's a terrible idea because I'll just be planting grass.... I guess we will see.
Tell him he needs to mow before the grass goes to seed and problem solved
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kshama2001 wrote: »kshama2001 wrote: »French_Peasant wrote: »kshama2001 wrote: »
Thank you! I used leaves last year but didn't do a very good job because they all blew away lol. I guess I should mulch them up first. I think I'll probably use grass clippings because my leaves are all stuffed into my compost with rotting food on top of them and I'm not going there.
I have a little surprise tomato plant that sprouted in my garden a little too close to the zucchini... For some reason I'm really excited about him, I think I'm going to try and move him to a safer location.
I use fine dark hardwood mulch in my "fancy" garden areas (the perennial beds closer to the street or that we are close to daily) but I primarily use grass on my vegetable beds, unless I am organized enough to leave a bale or two of straw out over the winter so the wetness kills any seeds that might sprout. The grass works really well and it's free; I just add it an inch at a time and build up layers over the summer. But I really prefer the rotted straw as it's so light and does a wonderful job of holding down weeds and preserving moisture, plus it looks cute.
That was a valuable tip - regular hay does indeed contain seeds that will sprout. I buy straw, which is a little more expensive, but is supposed to not have sproutable seeds. I do get a few, but it is manageable.
I used grass clippings in one of my beds, and my husband seems to think that's a terrible idea because I'll just be planting grass.... I guess we will see.
Tell him he needs to mow before the grass goes to seed and problem solved
unfortunately it's my son that mows the lawn lol. It was a little long but it didn't look like it had seeds yet. Hopefully it doesn't start growing grass so he can't say I told you so! He wanted me to use leaves but I had already dumped rotting food on top of the leaves in the compost so I wasn't going to use that1 -
French_Peasant wrote: »@kshama2001 your peonies and irises are gorgeous! @lemurcat2 I have been waiting VERY patiently to see pics of your new raised bed, and hear how it's going! If the bed's too tall, it sounds like a good opportunity to plant some ornamentals that will cascade down the sides--black or chartreuse sweet potato vine really pops with some orange marigolds, although of course it takes away from veg planting space.
I've always admired ornamental sweet potato vine in displays at garden centers but never had the right location for it.
@lemurcat2 the vine of edible sweet potatoes is not as ornamental, but still nice, and you get sweet potatoes
Marigolds are a great companion plant and they look pretty too. I have an 8 pack scattered throughout my garden.0 -
kshama2001 wrote: »French_Peasant wrote: »kshama2001 wrote: »
Thank you! I used leaves last year but didn't do a very good job because they all blew away lol. I guess I should mulch them up first. I think I'll probably use grass clippings because my leaves are all stuffed into my compost with rotting food on top of them and I'm not going there.
I have a little surprise tomato plant that sprouted in my garden a little too close to the zucchini... For some reason I'm really excited about him, I think I'm going to try and move him to a safer location.
I use fine dark hardwood mulch in my "fancy" garden areas (the perennial beds closer to the street or that we are close to daily) but I primarily use grass on my vegetable beds, unless I am organized enough to leave a bale or two of straw out over the winter so the wetness kills any seeds that might sprout. The grass works really well and it's free; I just add it an inch at a time and build up layers over the summer. But I really prefer the rotted straw as it's so light and does a wonderful job of holding down weeds and preserving moisture, plus it looks cute.
That was a valuable tip - regular hay does indeed contain seeds that will sprout. I buy straw, which is a little more expensive, but is supposed to not have sproutable seeds. I do get a few, but it is manageable.
I used grass clippings in one of my beds, and my husband seems to think that's a terrible idea because I'll just be planting grass.... I guess we will see.
I used to always use grass clippings, they work very well. They suppress weeds, feed soil, keep soil warmer... Only issue is they break down quickly and eventually you will need to bring the nitrogen balance back if you use them several seasons in a row. But using compost on your soil in addition to clippings usually fixes nitrogen issue. I still use grass clippings in veg patch but everywhere else we invested in arbour mulch as it lasts longer.0 -
I always do really well with cherry tomatoes but all my bigger tomato plants don't ever work out that well. This year I have two roma tomato plants and they are both crap. One of them I think the main stem broke off in a storm. I was hoping it would just grow another stem and keep on going but it hasn't. It's just.. not growing at all anymore. The other plant is doing better but still not that great. My cherry tomato plants are all really tall and growing really nicely, I even got my very first tomato off one of them. I'm not very good at gardening lol. I also lost a couple of my sunflower plants too, but I still have 3 or 4 and they've gotten pretty tall. I'm excited about those.2
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I always do really well with cherry tomatoes but all my bigger tomato plants don't ever work out that well. This year I have two roma tomato plants and they are both crap. One of them I think the main stem broke off in a storm. I was hoping it would just grow another stem and keep on going but it hasn't. It's just.. not growing at all anymore. The other plant is doing better but still not that great. My cherry tomato plants are all really tall and growing really nicely, I even got my very first tomato off one of them. I'm not very good at gardening lol. I also lost a couple of my sunflower plants too, but I still have 3 or 4 and they've gotten pretty tall. I'm excited about those.
This is why I buy a few grafted ones as well as seed my own. Sometimes the season is great and they grow well, other seasons are rubbish and only the grafted do well. The season just past we had a cold and very wet late spring. This meant the veg garden was delayed in growth and some things just didn't germinate in time (corn, watermelon, etc). Where I live we need the warm late spring to get corn, watermelon, cucubits... Etc.0 -
meganpettigrew86 wrote: »I always do really well with cherry tomatoes but all my bigger tomato plants don't ever work out that well. This year I have two roma tomato plants and they are both crap. One of them I think the main stem broke off in a storm. I was hoping it would just grow another stem and keep on going but it hasn't. It's just.. not growing at all anymore. The other plant is doing better but still not that great. My cherry tomato plants are all really tall and growing really nicely, I even got my very first tomato off one of them. I'm not very good at gardening lol. I also lost a couple of my sunflower plants too, but I still have 3 or 4 and they've gotten pretty tall. I'm excited about those.
This is why I buy a few grafted ones as well as seed my own. Sometimes the season is great and they grow well, other seasons are rubbish and only the grafted do well. The season just past we had a cold and very wet late spring. This meant the veg garden was delayed in growth and some things just didn't germinate in time (corn, watermelon, etc). Where I live we need the warm late spring to get corn, watermelon, cucubits... Etc.
I've had really weird weather so far. It is usually sunny and hot by this time of the year, but we've had a lot of overcast/rainy days and the temps are not very high0 -
meganpettigrew86 wrote: »I always do really well with cherry tomatoes but all my bigger tomato plants don't ever work out that well. This year I have two roma tomato plants and they are both crap. One of them I think the main stem broke off in a storm. I was hoping it would just grow another stem and keep on going but it hasn't. It's just.. not growing at all anymore. The other plant is doing better but still not that great. My cherry tomato plants are all really tall and growing really nicely, I even got my very first tomato off one of them. I'm not very good at gardening lol. I also lost a couple of my sunflower plants too, but I still have 3 or 4 and they've gotten pretty tall. I'm excited about those.
This is why I buy a few grafted ones as well as seed my own. Sometimes the season is great and they grow well, other seasons are rubbish and only the grafted do well. The season just past we had a cold and very wet late spring. This meant the veg garden was delayed in growth and some things just didn't germinate in time (corn, watermelon, etc). Where I live we need the warm late spring to get corn, watermelon, cucubits... Etc.
I've had really weird weather so far. It is usually sunny and hot by this time of the year, but we've had a lot of overcast/rainy days and the temps are not very high
Yes, I'm in Massachusetts and we've had an unusual amount of overcast/rainy days with cooler temps than normal. It's not looking to be a great strawberry season and the pole beans haven't started climbing yet.
However, I've had bumper crops of Swiss chard and bok choy, and the kale is keeping up with my demand.
My snow peas are starting to pop and I should have shell peas in a week or so.1 -
This month has been like May 2.0 so i got a late start on my garden. it's cold. and blustery and dark3
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Unseasonally cold and wet here too.2
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Will have to get round to building a glasshouse this year to counter this strange weather.1
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I always do really well with cherry tomatoes but all my bigger tomato plants don't ever work out that well. This year I have two roma tomato plants and they are both crap. One of them I think the main stem broke off in a storm. I was hoping it would just grow another stem and keep on going but it hasn't. It's just.. not growing at all anymore. The other plant is doing better but still not that great. My cherry tomato plants are all really tall and growing really nicely, I even got my very first tomato off one of them. I'm not very good at gardening lol. I also lost a couple of my sunflower plants too, but I still have 3 or 4 and they've gotten pretty tall. I'm excited about those.
I have terrible luck with romas as well. But if it helps most Roma plants are determinate and generally won't get as big/bushy as cherry tomato plants. Mine always get blossom end rot even though no other plant has problems so I just quit planting them and replaced it with a small globe type tomato variety and have no more issues.0 -
interesting. i had good luck with the romas last year0
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OK, I know you all will get this. I went out to check on my small garden. Herbs look great. Cherry tomatoes are starting to ripen, yay! Dwarf tomato plants look good. First container of radishes looks great, they're about ready. Strawberry plants have flowers, and a couple strawberries! Next box with radishes....they are ALL GONE! Thirty plants have disappeared! It could've been the raccoons but all of them? I noticed the container next to it has less weeds than it used to, so I think the guy that mowed the lawn did it as he's cut branches before if there's not much to do. But for crying out loud, pulling that many plants ready to be harvested?! And it was green waste week so I can't save them!2
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OK, I know you all will get this. I went out to check on my small garden. Herbs look great. Cherry tomatoes are starting to ripen, yay! Dwarf tomato plants look good. First container of radishes looks great, they're about ready. Strawberry plants have flowers, and a couple strawberries! Next box with radishes....they are ALL GONE! Thirty plants have disappeared! It could've been the raccoons but all of them? I noticed the container next to it has less weeds than it used to, so I think the guy that mowed the lawn did it as he's cut branches before if there's not much to do. But for crying out loud, pulling that many plants ready to be harvested?! And it was green waste week so I can't save them!
That reminds me of the time dad sprayed all the ranunculus I'd planted in their garden as he thought they were weeds. Mum was rather upset.1 -
OK, composting question! I used to use a deck composter a neighbor gave me but every time I spin it the door falls off so it's not very useable as everything falls on the ground. I use self-watering containers for tomatoes, strawberries, radishes, then have a bunch of herbs in pots and a few herbs in the ground. In other words, not much use for compost but I can use some. I have raccoons and possums, my yard goes into a greenbelt and doesn't have a fence. I ordered a kitchen composter so I'm not wasting produce scraps.
Long story short, should I get red wiggler worms or figure out something else like getting my composter fixed somehow- nothing's worked so far on the composter? I mostly have green waste. It's in 90s and 100s here and would prefer to keep worms outside. What would you recommend for my garden size?0 -
My neighborhood is having a garden walk tomorrow. Mostly more about decorative gardening, but should be fun.1
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