BS: Gardening, 2009

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 08 Jun 09 - 10:59 AM

Beautiful day today. Too bad I have to work inside.

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009
From: Janie
Date: 07 Jun 09 - 11:18 PM

The rear property line is overgrown with things like privet, tree saplings, honeysuckle, english Ivy, Ligustrum, etc. Way back in the thick of the thicket, so to speak, was what I think of as a garden midden, where old water hoses, wire edging, discarded hanging pots, etc, had been tossed. Got out there today and started clearing, and think I have cleaned out the midden. Still a lot of work to be done, but it definitely opens up things a bit back there. Also washed, rinsed and organized a pile of garden related stuff of my own that had been piled out there since I moved. It is coming up on a year, and I am still moving in.

Discovered the big oak that is right at the rear corner appears to be at least partly hollow, and has yellow jackets living in the base.   Most of that oak is on my rear neighbor's property, but the trunk does straddle the line slightly over onto my side.   There is also a power line that runs the length of the rear that feeds power to my side neighbor's house. I'm wondering if the power company has a right-of-way through there. If so, they might be responsible for taking down that tree. Gonna talk to the rear neighbor, hopefully tomorrow to see how she would feel about the tree coming down as it is a significant hazard to my house, which is sited in that rear corner of the property. My bedroom is less than 20' from that tree.

Other than damage from slugs and earwigs, everything is looking pretty good. We have had more rain this spring than we have had in a long time. It is good to see the natural world thriving with enough moisture.

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 07 Jun 09 - 10:56 PM

Oh, my aching bones, but I got a lot done around here. I have some dirt in front of the front porch that is full of stuff that washed off the roof before it was replaced, and I put down deep layers of newspaper then covered it with several inches of topsoil, sand, and decomposed granite, mulch around the outer edges, and put some decorative stepping stones on top.

While I was moving stuff around out there I moved the concrete thing at the bottom of the drain spout and found the biggest toad I've ever seen in my yard. She has a muddy tunnel for crawling in and out, and is very calm, considering that I've lifted that cover three times now (first time when I found her, then later to take a photo, and this evening to show my son.)

It was a good weekend for gardening, partly because I took off Friday (use or lose time will result in long weekends all summer, but they're better when I can actually use the time for stuff like yard work).

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 07 Jun 09 - 01:15 PM

I collected some wild seeds in the prairie across the road while out walking the dogs this morning. I'll use them in the farthest back part of the yard, see what happens. Yucca and milkweed. I'd love to attract butterflies back there, and have the evergreen bases of the yucca.

I needed to do some surgical spraying of BT this morning (trying to avoid butterflies) because the cannas have begun to look like a Havana cigar factory with all of those fat rolled up leaves. I've pulled them apart several times, but today I pulled apart and I went through the stand with a folliar feeding mix that included some BT. I also sprayed around the tomatoes; I'd love to head off the tobacco horn worms. They're like the John Deere clearing bug of the garden (and there is a reason why the competition is named Caterpillar, perhaps?)

Janie, I'll let you know in a couple of days if I was successful in planting beans from the starter tray. I'll put out bowls of beer tonight to round up the snails and clear the way for planting the next day.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 07 Jun 09 - 10:57 AM

I was afraid of that (the bus).

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009
From: Bobert
Date: 07 Jun 09 - 08:07 AM

Thanks, maeve... Yup, that's it... Unlike other varieties of lirope this one flat out will not spread so it's hard to get a couple plants and after a few years have about as many as you can use...

Yeah, Janie, I like those coleas with the large leaves... We also have (and sell at the garden center) elephant ears that are maroon that grow some very large leaves and make great container plants...
Still wondering why the white coleas are so hard to find??? You see them now and then so someone is growing them???

Well, today is gardening and maintenance day... The P-Vine's community choir has a performance at 3:30 but she says I can come home at intermission and get back at it... Says the second half of the program ain't all that difficult???

Think by the end of the day we will have our veggie garden "officailly" in for the season... Gonna make for a bunch of happy seeding's that have been patiently waiting...

Deer fence will be in on Monday or Tuesday... Hooray!!!

BTW, Maggie... When we moved I had to leave the double decker bus back in Wes Ginny... It was firmly attached to it's own foundation and had a front porch built onto it so, sniff, it ain't gonna be makin' no 'rounds pickin' up garden helpers...

B~

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009
From: maeve
Date: 07 Jun 09 - 05:09 AM

This one, Bobert? "Liriope muscari 'Okina'
Frosted Monkey Grass, Lilyturf
zones 5-10

Description: An unusual variety with a neat compact habit. In spring, the top of each leaf is pure white. As the plant matures, the white becomes speckled with green flecks, eventually changing to all green by fall. In late summer, the clumps are topped with lilac purple flowers.
Found here:

maeve

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009
From: Janie
Date: 06 Jun 09 - 09:36 PM

What I like about the Kong coleus, Bobert, are their huge leaves - very showy and dramatic in pots on a shaded porch where it is otherwise hard to get color. I'd like them white and green too, with those large, showy leaves. That is what I like about caladiums also.


I've got "Little Miss Muffet" caladiums and white impatiens in pots on cast iron stands in the garden. As the hydrangea is turning increasingly blue, I was struck today with how nice the colors of that caladium and the hydrangea complement each other. I'd like to find a large caladium with similar foliage to plant in the ground on either side of thise hydrangea for next year.

I like extremes in pots. Either very subtle or very dramatic.

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009
From: Bobert
Date: 06 Jun 09 - 08:59 PM

I like coleas as well, Janie, but I like the white with the light green veins... But I have a hard time finding it...

Speaking of white, there was a white liripe that came out about 10 years ago... I think it came from Andrea Viette but not sure... It turns green as the season progresses... Can't find it either... Has anyone seen it for sale???

No gardening got done today with the exception of buiding as makeshift cover for the blueberries... Other than that, nada...

Tomorrow will be better...

B~

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009
From: Janie
Date: 06 Jun 09 - 07:54 PM

I'm waiting for genetically modified mulch that spreads itself!


Wandered into Wally World late this afternoon and rescued 4 gorgeous Kong Coleus. I've had them in years past, but had given up on finding them this year.

Kong Mosiac

Kong Red

And to find them at Walmart, of all places.

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009
From: MMario
Date: 06 Jun 09 - 01:55 PM

So far today I've managed to turn on the hose and move it a few times. And plant a spent lily and a perrennial Ipicked up while grocery shopping. The mulch sits there, waiting to be spread. The weeds are laughing at me. The soil is dry dry dry dry dry.

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 06 Jun 09 - 01:00 PM

Hot one out there today. I'm pacing myself, in order to get the back yard mowed. I have some laundry to hang but don't want to put it out until after I finish mowing. (Hanging laundry is always rather cool on a hot day, as the evaporating garments cool the air immediately under the lines themselves. Good essay material. . . )

Accidentally pulled a smallish onion. I have a couple on the counter now that have tops good for cooking, so I think I'll make a potato salad (I always add a little green onion) or stir fry. Interesting how garden mishaps can suggest menu items. :)

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 06 Jun 09 - 11:42 AM

Last night I looked around to see how many bits from my garden I could include with dinner. I had a steak from the freezer (I have to buy, not grow, my own meat, zoning and yard size come into play here) but I had a lovely little white onion I sliced to saute with it, and I had a side of Swiss chard and a handful of baby carrots that I thinned from the carrot patch. It took me a while to learn that when thinning you need to do it by taking the largest of the particular plant, leaving the smaller ones to grow and fill the space. When you take the large carrot you have something there to eat, while if you take the small carrot you just have a skinny orange root. Onions you can eat just about any time, and this one I knocked over in the path a couple of week ago and was letting it dry out a little. This white one is one of many I planted last summer or fall to use as green onions, but I didn't use them all. This year they're growing the fat bulb and taste marvelous, once you knock off the part that grows up to the flower.

You guys all probably knew this, but in the past I haven't grown that many things that needed thinning, or had so few survive that thinning never came up. And I'm teaching my son about this stuff, even though he isn't incredibly interested right now.

On a completely different subject, I've been researching the aggregate feed question and why my gardening landscaping blog made it into a site unnamed and unlinked. I guess to keep this from happening again I must give myself a by-line and a link at the top of my entry even if it is clearly posted on my page. I'll write one with similar tags and do it this way later and see if that works.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009
From: Janie
Date: 06 Jun 09 - 08:49 AM

Something magical this morning, that I don't know if I can rightly describe.

The low angle of the morning sun is showing long, glinting lines of spiderweb all across the backyard, some running for 30-40 feet. Then, I thought I was seeing very small flying insects light enough to kind of drift with the light breeze. Suddenly, I realized I was seeing hundreds of tiny spiders allowing the wind to carry them - just like in Charlotte's Web.

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 05 Jun 09 - 04:24 PM

DE is very safe, but you want to get the kind for gardening, not the kind used in pool filters. That is a problem variety. There is a brand that comes in a bottle with a long straw you poke into the end (kind of looks like a huge hypodermic) and puff it onto the plants.

Soil Mender crawling insect killer is the brand and type. This type of DE is commonly used in animal feed. You just don't want to go inhaling a huge gob of it. (You don't want to inhale a gob of ANY powder, though!)

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009
From: katlaughing
Date: 05 Jun 09 - 03:58 PM

Cutter bee, that's right, thanks maeve for the links. It has been breezy here today so no sight of her. I jiggled the tree yesterday and she left, so I figure I need to hook up a motor that keeps it in constant motion or hire Morgan 24/7 to stand there and shake it.**bg** I hope I can get Rog to build a frame this time for the cheesecloth. I thought about the diatemacious(sp) earth, but I don't like using it when I read all of the caveats.

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 05 Jun 09 - 12:26 PM

With that passage open now your yard will feel a lot larger! It's probably better for the house also. Plants up against it make it to easy for bugs to crawl into the siding materials.

Hot out, but I've been working in the house. My son has a guest over. As soon as they're fed, I'm heading outdoors with my tankard of ice water strategically located for frequent drinks.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009
From: Alice
Date: 05 Jun 09 - 11:42 AM

I had a row of overgrown junipers removed from the north side of my house this week. These prickly shrubs were so huge they grew from the side of my house to the property line, with no room left to walk along that side of the house. They needed to be removed so I could reach the house to paint it and reclaim that part of the yard. I kept one juniper there next to the deck steps, a nice mature Japanese bonsai shape. Around it I put Siberian iris and a dry creek bed arrangement of river rock, repeating what is by my pond.

Still planting to do, and more pruning.

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 05 Jun 09 - 11:10 AM

Bobert, if you'll fix up that double decker bus with a few comfy passenger seats and the rest with sleeping berths, a bathroom and kitchenette, the Mudcat Gardener's not-so-Express can hit the road. Roving gypsy gardeners running up and down the east coast helping out in various yards and gardens along the way.

:)

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009
From: Bobert
Date: 05 Jun 09 - 07:27 AM

Boy. oh, boy...

That reminds me that I need to go down and get something over my blueberrues 'er the birds will wipe them out...

More rain here today... Gonne be real late veggie garden 'cause the peppers some of the tomato plants we have grown from seed aren't in yet... Maybe Sunday...

The poor P-Vine has hours posted at the gerden center and has to be there but with the rain there probably won't be any customers to speak of... How do you spell boring???

Ordered 1400 feet of heavy duty deer fence yesterday... Oh, boy... That's gonna be alot of fun down in the woods... Gonna take all summer to finish this project 'casue there are downed old pine trees down there that I'll have to cut up and get out of the way in order to string the fencing from good health hardwood to the next good health hardwood... But it's a mess down there right now...

I could use a little help with that, too, Janie (wink)...

B~

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009
From: maeve
Date: 05 Jun 09 - 06:56 AM

Janie- "do we need to come up there and help you out so you have time to take care of yourself?"

Yes, please. :>

You have rain, rain, rain. I have gotta do, gotta do, gotta do. My Truelove is still down with pneumonia and now back pain. So, I "Gotta do" to get the veggies in and house mucked out, and so on.

Thanks for the laugh!

maeve

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009
From: Janie
Date: 05 Jun 09 - 06:51 AM

maeve,

Do we need to tell you to take good care of yourself, or do we need to come up there and help you out so you have time to ake care of yourself?





Rain, rain, and then more rain. Stalled front. Ground saturated and flash flood watches everywhere. (I'm not in a flood plain.)

No gardening for me this weekend.

Old-fashion orange daylilies are blooming.

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009
From: maeve
Date: 05 Jun 09 - 06:39 AM

"short time"

Sorry- sore hands don't type well. Tired eyes don't proofread well.

Kat, I see you said you plan to use cheesecloth. that sounds fine.

m

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009
From: maeve
Date: 05 Jun 09 - 06:33 AM

Leaf Cutter Bee

The redbud

cookie cutter leaves


I'd suggest using a barrier cloth, Kat. What about some net curtains; would that be enough for a shirt time? Otherwise, just use compost and regular watering to help your little redbud cope with a need for increased leaf production. We need all the pollenators we can get!

maeve

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 05 Jun 09 - 12:33 AM

I tried looking up that bee (is it a true bee?) but can't find anything. Do you have more information to go on?

Diatomaceous earth might be better than baby powder. There could be other things, depending on killing or repelling. More later.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009
From: katlaughing
Date: 04 Jun 09 - 11:50 PM

I thought the eastern redbud tree we planted last year had escaped the baby quilt-making bee this year. It has been all leafed-out and so pretty, growing well. Well, guess what? She's b-a-c-k! Quite facsinating to watch, she does a very thrifty C-shaped edging, then flies away to tuck it in a hole of her hive. She is also very fast and greedy. We will have to build a frame for cheesecloth over it by the weekend or she will mar each leaf! My brother said he'd kill her, but I just can't do that. Anyone know if dusting it with baby powder would repel her like it does ants?

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 04 Jun 09 - 10:44 AM

Leo may be onto the answer--this hay doesn't have seed or heads. It's not as tough and flat as straw, it's softer for the dogs, that's how I got started using it.

Okay, I just called the feed store to ask about this. The hay I use is a coastal Bermuda, and it isn't grown from seed. To grow this hay they plant root sprigs, and when it is mowed there aren't seed heads in the picture. I don't know that it means this hay produces no seed, but the reproduction used commercially is by planting sprigs.

Of course, now that I've looked into it, I can see I'll probably make a switch for some of my use. Here is an Ag Extension PDF the describes how to start it. Lots of chemicals. I found that link from here.

Ironic that I battle the Bermuda in my turf all year (it gets into the gardens like nobody's business) and then I would use a close relative in the garden. :-/ It does work, though, to grind it back in and I don't get it growing in the garden, so it doesn't seem to bring along any seeding or sprig parts in the bale.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009
From: MMario
Date: 04 Jun 09 - 09:35 AM

The truck farm I worked at during my HS and collega years - we mulched about two acres every year with "salt hay" - which isn't truly salty, nor is it hay....mostly. the tidal marshes are filled with what we call "marsh grass" - but I think it is actually some type of sedge....over the winter the long stems break off and the wind and tides pile it in deep layers around the edges of the marshes. So Every spring we would load the truck up multiple times.(with pitchforks) and spread it on the fields (again, with pitchforks)   
The asparagus beds; the raspberry beds and most of the vine crops would all get a nice 6 inch layer. (That;s the cukes, the zuchinni and summer squash, the ornamental gourds) Some years the field tomatoes got mulched as well - though not the winter squash or the trellissed tomatoes.

The boss always had us spread a truckload in the greenhouse as well.

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009
From: Bobert
Date: 04 Jun 09 - 08:21 AM

Yes, leaves are great source of mulch... You'll need to use lime on yer garden with them becasue they are also somewaht acidic... We use them under acid loving shrubs and any shady woodland plants... The P-Vine, bless her heart, has a 30 year old shreader we bought for a hundred buck and it works great... Instant mulch....

Glorious gentle rain here for the next two day's... Gald I got my posts set before it... I got a message from my brother that a tornado touched down in Stanley (that's the closest town to us) so I'm kinda looking forward to stopping in the local general store to get my newspapaer this morning which also serves as to get the poop on it...

B~

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009
From: Janie
Date: 03 Jun 09 - 11:29 PM

I just use shredded leaves. Now I have them in super abundance, but even at the old place, there were plenty. Everyone raked or blew their leaves to the curb for the town to vacuum up every fall, so I'd go grab them before the town got to them. I shred them by putting the bagger on the mower. Wash out the city provided wheeled garbage can to drag along with me, and dump the bag into that until full. Then go pile them where ever I want them.

Great soil amendment as they break down and the worms work them into the soil. But slugs and earwigs also find leaf mulch quite wonderful shelter.

Whatever you use, Mary, mulch, and mulch well. Conserves water, suppresses weeds, keeps roots cool in the withering heat of summer, and adds organic matter to the soil as it breaks down.

Without a tractor or substantial tiller, straw is hard to work back into the soil as it has so much cellulose in it that it doesn't chop easily. But it is cheap and effective, doesn't break down as quickly as leaves, and therefore functions longer as mulch, and will eventually break down on it's own for the worms to till into the soil as they see fit.

Leaves are free, but pretty labor intensive to shred and then move to where you want them. And you do not want to mulch plants with unshredded leaves - they are big enough that rain can run off of them and not reach the soil as well as it needs to.

I had a neighbor who every couple of years talks the street department, at leaf vacuuming time, to blow a truckload of the leaves they had just vacuumed and shredded into a huge pile next to his garden, which was fairly close to the street.

Your garden looks like it is coming along quite nicely. From the pictures it looks like you have sandy soil, and not clay. Is that right?

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009
From: Bobert
Date: 03 Jun 09 - 07:58 PM

Maryrrf,

Yeah, greatest mulch for a veggie garden out there... Gotta put it on deep... Minimum of 6 inches... You will be amazed at how it will do exactly what it is supposed to do in keeping the weeds down and moisture in... Plus...

...in the late fall when winter is comin' you can just till it into yer soil and it will act as humus in the soil and next years soil will be better than ever... We are lucky enough to have a tractor and plow which we use to turn everything under and then come spring when we till out soil is very happy... And so are out plants...

I don't know anything about coastal hay that maggie is talking about... Hay generally has the tops in it which is almost all seed and produces grass but maybe in Texas it ain't got not tops... Straw is readially available in the Richond area fir $4.00 a bale... Look like about 5 bales will do yer garden right nicely...

BTW, you ever go to Glen Allen to the "Little Five Azalea Farm"... It's off Rt. 1 about a mile north of Parham... Great plants for cheap...

B~

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 03 Jun 09 - 07:15 PM

I buy bales of coastal hay for about $10 a bale and spread it around (I also use this for cushioning in the dog houses). You could probably buy a few bales and take care of your entire garden, but start with one or two and see how far they go.

I found bagged decomposed granite at Home Depot last weekend, and today I opened it up to take a look at it. (About 40 pounds, measured it is .5 cubic foot of crushed stone, cost about $4.50) My organic guru recommends it as part of the mix when you're making potting soil or improving the garden soil. I sprinkled it around my gardens sparsely, just to get the feel for handling it, and this will work it's way down through the mulch during the season. I regularly use lava sand and green sand as amendments. This is a little different, it is for consistency, not minerals, as far as I know.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009
From: Maryrrf
Date: 03 Jun 09 - 12:00 PM

Hi Bobert - hadn't thought about straw but maybe I'll try it. Thanks for the suggestion!

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 03 Jun 09 - 11:01 AM

Yesterday morning we had a heavy thunderstorm pass over the area at school time so I drove my son to school. An even heavier storm rolled over the top of us starting at about 1am--the kind that feels more like an artillery bombardment, with rapid-fire lightning, continual thunder, and heavy rain. The kind of storm that has you wandering carefully into the yard the next morning to see what fell over, broke, or got knocked down.

Yesterday morning's storm tipped over (gently) a large tomato plant that I was able to reposition with no harm done. The veggies survived last night's storm, but the creek rose over the bridge and dropped debris and mud in the street at the bottom of the hill. The yard will be way-too muddy for mowing for a couple of days at least and it will be a longer wait for any more digging.

Later I'll walk out back and see how the trees are doing. A couple of years ago one of mine dropped a very large limb in the neighbor's shade garden, and barely missed taking out their garden shed. They have a tree that is most potentially a fence or shed-breaker at the far back part of the yard, it's a huge and rotted hackberry.

Let's hope these storms pace themselves. Problem with rain in this climate is that most of it comes all in a few days and runs off before it can be useful. Seattle doesn't get much more rain than North Texas, it just gets it in a gentle form and paced out to get the optimum watering use out of it.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009
From: Bobert
Date: 02 Jun 09 - 07:41 PM

BTW, I gave in and took my employee, who is an animal, off the hotel renovation today and together we finished with the posts!!! Plus he finished painted the outside of the P-Vine garden house while I weeded and mulched the veggie garden... All in all, a good day...

Back to the hotel tomorrow but, hey, it's sposed to rain anyway and we're almost caught up... The P-Vine needs to get the pepper seedlings in tomorrow before the rain but that oughhta give us some breathing room for a day ot two...

B~

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009
From: Bobert
Date: 02 Jun 09 - 05:39 PM

Maryrrf,

May I offer a suggestion??? Seein' as you have worked hard at keeping the weeds down yer garden will do better and require less maintenance if you mulch it now with about 6 inches of loose straw... This will keep the moisture in and the weeds down... Yer veggies will love you...

B~

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009
From: maire-aine
Date: 02 Jun 09 - 03:16 PM

The landscapers arrived this morning, and they've been working all day. They've already hauled away a truck-ful of branches and weeds. I'm just watching from the window, but it looks better already.

Maryanne

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 02 Jun 09 - 01:27 PM

Thank you Janie--I'd found those suckers in that position but wasn't sure how far back to go, I was looking at the branch ends and wondering how far back one started. I have some big bushes now so won't try to do much to those but on the smaller ones I'll give this a try.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009
From: Maryrrf
Date: 02 Jun 09 - 11:23 AM

Well things are coming along nicely. Here are the latest pics:

Mary's Garden Pics June 1, 2009

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009
From: Bobert
Date: 02 Jun 09 - 08:19 AM

Better post than mine, Janie... Kinda hard to expalin suckerin' without piccures...

B~

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009
From: Janie
Date: 02 Jun 09 - 07:32 AM

Walked out to poppies in bloom this lovely morning!

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009
From: maeve
Date: 02 Jun 09 - 05:39 AM

Maggie, I am using wooden stakes this year, and will use whatever I have on hand to tie the plants up as they grow. In other years we've used cages and we've let them all sprawl, but I want good air circulation and I hate having to damage plants and fruit pushing my way between plants when we harvest, so it's stakes this year. I'm planting my salad crops under and between the tomatoes for the most part.

I also prefer to pinch out the suckers as Bobert and Janie describe. They are little stems, by the way. Lots of sucker pictures for you!

Janie- Yes, those first sweet roses made the whole difficult day worthwhile.

maeve

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 02 Jun 09 - 03:02 AM

People came last night.. my garden was admired, my arums were commented upon, I am, happy.. but I never did get to the garden centre to get the basket filler plants!

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009
From: Janie
Date: 01 Jun 09 - 10:58 PM

I'm not just doubly redundant, I'm triplely redundant.



Bet ya'll love me anyways....

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009
From: Janie
Date: 01 Jun 09 - 10:56 PM

uhmmm.....fruits will not be as large as they otherwise would be.

ie, you get more tomatoes but smaller tomatoes.

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009
From: Janie
Date: 01 Jun 09 - 10:44 PM

Stilly, look at the main stem or main two stems of your tomato plants. Follow the line of that (or those) two stems. There will be short branches off of the main stems. In the axil between the main stem and the short branch will be another branch. This is what is called a sucker.

Many people choose to pinch off those suckers to allow the main branches to bear larger tomatoes. The suckers will also bear, but what can happen is that the plant will develop so much fruit that the fruits will be as large as they otherwise would be. If you do not sucker tomatoes you get more fruit, but smaller fruit. More recent research has indicated that you will probably get the same over-all yield in poundage whether you pinch off the suckers or not.

One advantage of pinching off suckers is better airflow and possibly less desease as the result.    If you are wanting big slicing tomatoes or to impress the neighbors with the size of your tomatoes, sucker them. Or if diseases related to poor airflow are a major problem, sucker your tomatoes. (they are also easier to stake and keep off the ground, or to keep from tobbling over cages or stakes if you sucker them. You will get more tomatoes but smaller tomatoes if you do not sucker, and the vines will probably succomb more quickly to disease or fungus if you do not sucker. But where I live, the heat and humidity of full summer are going to result in disease no matter what. I'm better off starting a second planting about 4-6 weeks after the first if I want tomatoes up to first frost in October.

I may sucker tomatoes early in the season, for no good reason, but have not routinely suckered them for a number of years. If I lived in a cooler climate with a shorter growing season and fewer disease problems that could be effectively controlled by attending to air circulation, I might be more inclined to go out weekly and pinch out the suckers.

Where there is a long growing season and high humidity, such as you and I have, and where disease is likely to limit tomato production late in the season (that is an issue here, and I'm guessing where you are in Texas,) you can also root some of the early suckers, using rooting hormone and vermiculite and/or perlite, and plant them early to mid summer to bear in late summer through fall, and take out the early tomatoes when disease begins to seriously reduce production, or to limit the spread of disease.   Rooting the suckers is faster and less labor intensive than starting seeds to plant mid-season.

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 01 Jun 09 - 09:49 PM

But are you taking off branches or simply leaves at the growing in batches of three at the end of the branches? I have a few strange tomatoes this year, the plants are almost curled up on themselves. I bought two or three varieties, and on all of them any of those groups of three seem to have minute flowers forming. Are you saying these flowers won't be viable or won't respond to pollination? Or should I go further down the branch and trim out some of the beefier branches? Or is this something you do when the plant is still very small and near the ground?

Sorry to be so dense, but I can't really see where it is you take out this middle plant digit, so to speak.

The first eggplant flower has appeared and is in full bloom. The tomatoes are covered with blooms. The oregano is blooming big time. The beans are blooming and the vitex in my front yard is spectacular in the sweet smell and blue color. When the plumber was here and had to feel for the hot water at the overflow valve, I told him to be careful, and as he started into the garden, "you're standing on an onion." "Oh!" was the answer, and tells me this guy doesn't garden or he'd have easily recognized the magnificence of these plantings. He managed to check out the spout without knocking down my Texas star hibiscus along the wall. I think. Sometimes they're pretty fussy and will fall down a while later if they decide they've been insulted in some way. Then the continue to grow, from that prostrate position, sending all new branches up from the recumbent stem. They can take up a lot of space if they do that. They're considered native, people are pretty sure about it, and they're different enough from the ones they sell that I think this is true. A few of these dinner plate-sized flowers really brighten up the yard! I one time counted 19 open simultaneously on one plant. I had to move that plant and it didn't survive, it was my best bloomer, but these others have gotten more established now, so I hope for a good year. Each flower is only open for 1 day.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009
From: Janie
Date: 01 Jun 09 - 08:30 PM

Indeed, hurray for you Bobert!

Don't know what happened to my last post - maybe I forgot to hit submit and wandered off and then refreshed.

Anyways, it was thread drift related to roadkill.

Hubby and I used to make and sell drums. We collected hides from taxadermists and local hunting clubs, soaked them in big trash barrels with a lye solution made from wood ashes and water, then scraped and dehaired them. Both of us nearly lost fingers from infections incurred doing that work.

The good doctors knew what to do about the cellulitus (cellulitis?) but none of them were accustomed to dealing with the germs we acquired. We were infectious novelties that all the medical residents got brought into see on the several occasions over the course of several years that we showed up in the ER.

(Not sorry I lived that life, but wouldn't do it again.)

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009
From: Bobert
Date: 01 Jun 09 - 07:45 PM

It's called "suckering", Maggie... Think of... No, hold up three fingers... The tomato plant will have lots of these where there is the middle of those three fingers (quit laughin', this is serious stuff here...") What you have to do is take out the middle finger becaquse it will no flower nor bear fruit... All it will do is take away strength from the plant... It's kinda like pinching out the middle of, oh, a mum so that it will branch out wide and not get leggy... You'll find lots of these in tomato plants if you look inside them as they grow... They are all worthless... Just pinch or cut them out with sizzors... Makes for better fruit...

Well, hoorya for me... I actually did some gardening today... Planted 4 azalaeas, one camilla where another wasn't doing too well and moved that one into the healing bed... Weeded hald the veggie garden and helped the P-Vine plant her new raised bed with 3 other azaleas, a huckera, a couple ferns, a white lirope and a few other "ditzy plants" (my mom's term for small plants)...

Didn't get any more poles set cause they are extremely tiring... Maybe tomorrow after work I'll get another 5 ot so set...

That's 'bout it for today other than the some of the azaleas that are in bloom now are gortgeous... "Neptune" is a dark purplish/lavender and absolutely glows.... It is so hot!!!

B~

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 01 Jun 09 - 07:00 PM

Janie, I skinned out one also, one I picked up in the Smokeys one year. I didn't keep that collection, after time they kind of crumbled, but I had a variety of animals I used in interpretive programs, picked up on our nation's highways (only if they were very very fresh). I stopped doing it when I learned about some of the really horrible diseases some of these critters can transmit to humans.

How are you staking your tomatoes, maeve? with tall bamboo poles or something? Twine? Some kind of cord? How will it make a difference? I have most of mine in cages, but this year I just left a few to grow on the ground to see what happens.

Bobert has a method of thinning the tomatoes that he described last year and I'm still not quite sure I understand. Something about taking out every other branch? Are you doing it again this year, Bobert?

SRS