Garden thread

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  • carakirkey
    carakirkey Posts: 199 Member
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    AnnPT77 wrote: »
    [



    Some other great herbs you haven't mentioned: Chives, garlic chives (<== those can spread a little thuggishly, like the mint and lemon balm!), sage. Those are perennial, and hardy.

    Garlic Chives have such as great flavor, definitely a fave! I often seed summer savory, and that will reseed itself each year- another lovely garden herb.
  • agbmom556
    agbmom556 Posts: 694 Member
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    Anyone planting strawberries this spring? 2 years ago, I had a great harvest. Last year ...nothing. I would like to plant them again. Any recommendations on how to grow them?
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 27,906 Member
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    agbmom556 wrote: »
    Anyone planting strawberries this spring? 2 years ago, I had a great harvest. Last year ...nothing. I would like to plant them again. Any recommendations on how to grow them?

    I won't be planting strawberries this year - I will be giving plants away. They are like weeds, lol.

    Last year wasn't a great year, but I still had berries. There was a weather-related issue for which I cannot recall the details - perhaps not enough sun and warmth at critical times. My plants might also be overcrowded.

    I give them away on freecycle and in a local FB gardening group.

    Anyone south of Boston interested in plants, let me know! Since they weren't in a warm nursery, they could probably be transplanted around the end of this month.

    https://bonnieplants.com/how-to-grow/growing-strawberries/
  • lemurcat2
    lemurcat2 Posts: 7,885 Member
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    I am hoping the strawberries I planted last year come back up and give me berries. No reason they should have died, it hasn't been a bad winter.
  • amtyrell
    amtyrell Posts: 1,449 Member
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    Has anyone here done swiss chard before? My seedlings are looking leggy and i am worried about them . But never did swiss chard before
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 27,906 Member
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    amtyrell wrote: »
    Has anyone here done swiss chard before? My seedlings are looking leggy and i am worried about them . But never did swiss chard before

    Once established, Swiss chard is pretty indestructible. Pests here in Mass. don't bother it, and it can tolerate very cold and very warm weather. (It does droop on very hot days but bounces back.)

    I usually buy seedlings from the garden center so can't advise about yours, but a picture would help. Are these indoors or out? Indoors without wind or the right kind of sun can cause legginess.
  • Katmary71
    Katmary71 Posts: 6,584 Member
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    agbmom556 wrote: »
    Anyone planting strawberries this spring? 2 years ago, I had a great harvest. Last year ...nothing. I would like to plant them again. Any recommendations on how to grow them?

    My strawberries barely produced last year but my oak tree is shading them. I probably got about 15. I had them in a wooden wine barrel and discovered the wood had been invaded by termites, talk about disgusting!
  • Katmary71
    Katmary71 Posts: 6,584 Member
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    To those of you that grow vegetables and like cucumbers I recommend trying Armenian cucumbers, they're really good! Some Asian vegetable growers sell them at the farmer's markets but they let them grow too big and they don't have the best flavor that way. It's a cross between a muskmelon and a cucumber.
  • lemurcat2
    lemurcat2 Posts: 7,885 Member
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    Katmary71 wrote: »
    agbmom556 wrote: »
    Anyone planting strawberries this spring? 2 years ago, I had a great harvest. Last year ...nothing. I would like to plant them again. Any recommendations on how to grow them?

    My strawberries barely produced last year but my oak tree is shading them.

    Mine also barely produced, but it was the first year and it was a super rainy spring so everything was way delayed.

    I did swiss chard last year and it did well, but I have no actual knowledge about it.
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 27,906 Member
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    Katmary71 wrote: »
    agbmom556 wrote: »
    Anyone planting strawberries this spring? 2 years ago, I had a great harvest. Last year ...nothing. I would like to plant them again. Any recommendations on how to grow them?

    My strawberries barely produced last year but my oak tree is shading them. I probably got about 15. I had them in a wooden wine barrel and discovered the wood had been invaded by termites, talk about disgusting!

    At my last place I had a guy trim a few branches from the oak tree to give the garden more light.
  • Safari_Gal_
    Safari_Gal_ Posts: 1,461 Member
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    Everyone talking about strawberries! 🍓 I would love to plant some here! I have a little patio with a side yard - not enclosed. We do have some raccoons, opossums and rabbits... apparently they all like strawberries too. 🤷‍♀️ cute lil buggers when they have a snack at night ... I watch from the window. I keep the herbs we use on a table just in case....
    🐾
  • summery79
    summery79 Posts: 116 Member
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    I just bought some frames for raised beds. I want to grow watermelons and some simple veggies like lettuce. I do not have a green thumb. Tips from seasoned gardeners appreciated!

    I know I can handle the lettuce but the watermelon packet makes me think the plants are fussy. They need a certain pH apparently :(
  • lemurcat2
    lemurcat2 Posts: 7,885 Member
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    Safari_Gal_ wrote: »
    Everyone talking about strawberries! 🍓 I would love to plant some here! I have a little patio with a side yard - not enclosed. We do have some raccoons, opossums and rabbits... apparently they all like strawberries too. 🤷‍♀️ cute lil buggers when they have a snack at night ... I watch from the window. I keep the herbs we use on a table just in case....
    🐾

    We have lots of rabbits. I do my vegetables mostly in a raised bed (and my herbs in carts on my back porch), but they didn't actually seem to bother my other plants and flowers.

    I did see a squirrel getting after my eggplant, after having observed that something was.
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 27,906 Member
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    Safari_Gal_ wrote: »
    Everyone talking about strawberries! 🍓 I would love to plant some here! I have a little patio with a side yard - not enclosed. We do have some raccoons, opossums and rabbits... apparently they all like strawberries too. 🤷‍♀️ cute lil buggers when they have a snack at night ... I watch from the window. I keep the herbs we use on a table just in case....
    🐾

    At my last place, I had enough strawberry plants to share with the squirrels and birds, but here I do not, so I have an 18" tall modular fence that I top with bird netting once the berries start turning red. Works great!

    l30mkpbmyk9s.jpg

    https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B01NB1EECB/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1
  • amtyrell
    amtyrell Posts: 1,449 Member
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    summery79 wrote: »
    I just bought some frames for raised beds. I want to grow watermelons and some simple veggies like lettuce. I do not have a green thumb. Tips from seasoned gardeners appreciated!

    I know I can handle the lettuce but the watermelon packet makes me think the plants are fussy. They need a certain pH apparently :(

    Lettuce is easy and you are likely to be successful.
    Watermelons the hardest bit is they take a long time. I want you to google your last frost date in spring and first frost date in fall and figure out how many days are between them. Large watermelon take a really long number of days.
    If you have lots of days and lots of bery su,ny space you will be fine.
  • moonangel12
    moonangel12 Posts: 971 Member
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    @kshama2001 I am looking at doing something similar - more for the neighbor kids and dogs though! Although, the squirrels are insane in our neighborhood! We watched birds snatch the ripe strawberries last year :D going to try painting rocks to match the various stages of ripeness to see if that desensitizes them...

    Our progress for today! My 7 year old future farmer was a trooper! We have limited sun, and the few spots get heavy kid traffic (my 4 plus the neighborhood kids) and all that comes with them - baseballs, kickballs, basketballs, frisbees, etc. my husband suggested the gravel space since it is currently wasted space and fairly protected so I was prepping it for raised beds today... cleared space is around 4’x25’ with plans for a cattle panel trellis and growing sunflowers on the back edge of the bed against the fence... last year I raked back the gravel and planted them directly in the ground, but some washed under the fence into the neighbors yard - whoops!

    My son likes to grow pumpkins, his bed is under the greenhouse cover mainly to keep kids and critters out so the vines don’t get damaged when they are young (nothing planted yet, but if the warm weather holds out we might put a few early seeds in for the heck of it).

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    zfwqxpx4iac2.jpeg


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