Gardening Thread

[Backwoods Presbyterian]

This is the first year we've lived in a house the whole time we have been married. On top of it we have a whole new soil to deal with than I am used to back in West Virginia.

Dug out a 16' x 12' plot to plant vegetables of all varieties and am on my way to buy 4 peach trees, 2 pear trees, and maybe some plum trees if they have any.

What are y'all's plans?

 

[he beholds]

I have started digging up my garden, too. I already planted some lettuce and spinach, but possibly pre-maturely. I tried lettuce last time I gardened, but that time I planted the seeds too late (they are a cool weather plant). This time I bought starts to transplant, so it may have been too early. We'll see. I prayed that they'd grow anyway.
I'm also going to do zucchini, which worked very well for us last time, and squash, tomatoes, carrots, garlic, onions and maybe cucumbers and broccoli.

 

[LawrenceU]

I love gardening. I am running way behind this year.

Benjamin, if you soil is as sandy there as I think watch out for watering needs. You will be amazed at how quickly things dry out. Also, work lots of organic matter into the soil. Nutrients perk out very quickly.

 

[Backwoods Presbyterian]

Thanks Lawrence. Yeah it is very sandy. I am working in some Peat Moss before I plant.

 

[lynnie]

I am in the part of NJ that gave it the name "Garden State". It used to feel like the Garden of Eden. Last week I tarped over my garden areas and for the first time decided not to plant a thing. Stink bugs are wreaking havoc in this state. They stick their proboscis into tomatoes, peaches, squashes, berries, etc and make spots all over.

I asked an alleged expert at the Philly flower show if there is anything they don't eat and he laughed and said no. The USDA is supposed to have some controls on the market this July. Some sprays work if you really keep up with them, so I have heard, but I never had to spray before except maybe for cabbage worms, and I don't feel like spraying all summer. They said when there is a lot of snow it protects the eggs and you get a worse infestation in the summer, so this summer should be a real plague. I figure I will just let the local farmers do the work this year and I'll stop at local produce stands. This is the first time I ever really knew how it feels when you read in the bible about locusts eating the crops.

Looking forward to my flowers, sure hope the stinkbugs don't eat them, and hoping to brush up a bit with my books on wild edible greens.

 

[LawrenceU]

Thanks Lawrence. Yeah it is very sandy. I am working in some Peat Moss before I plant.

Try to work in some compost or composted manure as well. Peat Moss by itself can mess with the mineral balance in certain situations. Have you had your soil tested by the local Cooperative Extension office? They usually do it for free.

 

[Backwoods Presbyterian]

Had not thought of that. I'll check into it.

 

[jwithnell]

Do you know if you're entirely in sandy loam soil or alluvial soil? The latter would be much more fertile.

I'm mostly going with flowers this year, although I have cabbage started too and will put in a tomato and pepper plant 'cause there's nothing like home grown. I get a few strawberries out of a small patch. Just started most of my seed and have fashioned a neat little green house. This is the first I've heard of stinkbugs getting into veggies : ( I'll have such a small operation this year, it might be worth netting.

 

[TexanRose]

I've planted tomatoes, green beans, onions, carrots, and basil. Everything is growing well so far. I did have stink bugs on the tomatoes last year, but I felt like I got a decent crop before they got too bad. Also, I got a second crop of tomatoes late in the year (I was still picking them well into December) and the stink bugs weren't nearly so much of a problem for the second crop.

I heard that if you go out to your garden once or twice a day and vacuum the stink bugs off the plants with a Dustbuster, you can keep them from totally taking over. I don't know if it works, but it sounds like fun!

I'm hoping to turn over a couple more 4'x4' beds so that I can plant some okra, cowpeas, and hot peppers. But digging plots is a terrible chore--I have awful clay soil, very heavy and sticky when wet, and rock-hard lumps when dry. We'll see how far I get!

 

[kvanlaan]

We still have snow on the ground, but already my wife is starting her things from seed. We are supposedly going to have our last frost at the end of April, but we won't be transplanting into the field on May first, I can tell you that much!

We planted 30 fruit trees of between 5-7 feet in height last summer, so I am hoping to see some significant growth this year, but the big plan is the garden (between 1/2 acre to a full acre) with 100 tomato plants and a block of corn, among other things. The big problem is that I am a city boy and what I thought was as easy as hopping on a tractor (a 1948 Ford 8N that is a gem of a machine) and just diggin' the plow into the ground has proven to be slightly more than that. I do not plow, I scar the land.

I am looking forward to getting things moving on the garden, etc. We also pruned the existing apple trees and are trying to figure out how to bag the apples on the stem to do this pesticide-free.

 

[LawrenceU]

Kevin, those 8N's are great little tractors. You'll get the hang of it. I have confidence in you because you love the land. I really miss living in the country and raising our food. I now live in the city and fight shade like there is no tomorrow.

 

[SRoper]

We are planting in stages so it doesn't all come in at once. We've got tomatoes, basil, green beans, zucchini, broccoli, lettuce, and spinach. Everything that we've planted has already sprouted.

Last year was our first attempt since we just got married in the past year. Our late start meant we didn't get much output before the frost (we lost all our tomatoes). Hope to have a better results this year.

Since our yard is sand, we've had to bring in a lot of compost and peat moss. I'm used to gardening in Ohio, so this is quite different.

Anyone have advice on how to keep caterpillars from eating our zucchini?

 

[jwithnell]

Squash seem to have so many things that will eat them, but they are also fairly flexible about when they're grown as long as it's not that cold. I've had success with squash by planting early, before the munchers are likely to be in full cycle.

 

[TimV]

Sand is great soil. Putting compost etc... in your soil can help a bit, but I've never met a commercial farmer who's amended his soil. Why? When you can just add fertilizer that you have to add anyway.

I'm on pure sand and it's great. I'm still getting lots of winter flowers, but probably next week will add the other stuff.

 

[Backwoods Presbyterian]

First Pics

 

[Rufus]

I will be clearing out and setting up the family garden which wasn't in use last year during my April Vacation. Any recommendations on simple things to plant? We usually did Tamatos.

 

[kvanlaan]

This is residing in my bedroom right now. It takes up about 1/8th of the room and will go in the ground after the last frost.

It wasn't supposed to get this large indoors - we were supposed to be outside by now-ish (but we had snow just a relatively few days ago!)

 

[TimV]

The white in back is Cilantro, but most everything else is flowers so far. Now what do I do with all that Cilantro?????? Even the flowers are going to waste....I'll have to give that some thought.....