BS: Gardening 2010

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening 2010
From: Alice
Date: 21 Jul 10 - 03:23 PM

More flowers have opened in the north side rock garden.
Sorry for the poor resolution... just taken by aiming the laptop at the ground.

CLICK HERE

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening 2010
From: maire-aine
Date: 21 Jul 10 - 09:29 PM

The photos look real good, Alice. What are the little red flowers?

I just ate the first ripe tomato tonight. And the tomato plants I started from seed have blossoms.

Maryanne

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening 2010
From: Alice
Date: 21 Jul 10 - 10:13 PM

This is the first year I've seen it bloom. It is a ground cover that opened up both white and dark red flowers (must have planted more than one plant that was in the starter pot). I posted a photo of the bright pink one that opened in June, which is planted right next to this one just opening now - Creeping Phlox. There is yet another bunch of Creeping Phlox that is in slightly more shade that probably won't bloom until next month. I wonder what color that will be?



A.

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening 2010
From: Bobert
Date: 21 Jul 10 - 10:19 PM

Nice pics...

Anyone ever used horticultural vinegar on weeds??? If so, how'd it do???

B~

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening 2010
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 21 Jul 10 - 11:02 PM

Ten percent is optimum strength vinegar. Get the regular vinegar, not the acetic acid petroleum product vinegar. Grocery store vinegar is 5%, feed stores sell 20% but that is overkill, if you get that, dilute it to 10%.

If it is really warm and sunny without much wind, that is perfect. Put it in your sprayer and spray over the weeds you want to kill, and avoid any foliage that you want to keep. It doesn't kill the roots, just the green tops, but usually if you go over an area of grass a few days later, that's enough to kill the weeds.

It works pretty fast, but you need heat and sunshine. Careful getting it on your skin, it can smart. Here's the "V" section at the Dirt Doctor library. You'll find lots of vinegar entries. Here's the main text you need, though:

Weeds can be controlled with non-toxic products.   Forget using black plastic, toxic chemical herbicides, salt and bleach. Remember one of our primary rules – do nothing to harm the life in the soil. Bleach and toxic chemical herbicides are poor choices, but there are some good ones.

To keep the weeds out of a decorative or utility gravel area, the best approach is to design them out from the beginning or use organic products later to kill the weeds. Salt, toxic herbicides and bleach should never be used because they contaminate the soil long term. They also leach into the water stream. To head off the problem, install the gravel in a thick layer – 6-8" after scraping away all grasses and weeds.

For additional control, add a layer of white caliche rock before putting the gravel on top. Any weeds that grow through the gravel can be sprayed and killed with a mix of 10% pickling vinegar mixed with 2 ounces orange oil and 1 teaspoon liquid soap or you can use commercial organic herbicides. There are also commercial products now available. Vinegar sprays can also be used to kill weeds in the cracks in sidewalks and driveways.

The strongest vinegar available in retail stores is 30% but it is far too strong and I do not recommend it. For general use 20 percent or 200 grain is available but it is stronger than needed and I no longer recommend. At this strength it is corrosive enough to eat metal and must be handled carefully in plastic containers. It is also dangerous to breathe. It will obviously kill weeds, but so will RoundUp, 2,4-D and MSMA which we also don't recommend. It works best when sprayed full strength during the heat of the day and in full sunlight. While 200-grain (20 percent) material is still on the market, it can be reduced to the recommended 100 grain (10 percent) by doubling the amount of water in the 20% vinegar. Diluting cuts the cost in half and makes it a safer product to use. The mix I recommend for weed non-selective weed control is 1-2 oz. of orange oil and 1 teaspoon of liquid soap per gallon of 10% (pickling) vinegar made from grain alcohol. Vinegar that is made from the petroleum derivative, 99% acetic acid, is not acceptable in an organic program.

If your water is alkaline, add 1 tablespoon of 50-grain (5 percent) natural apple cider vinegar to each gallon of water to improve the quality of the water for potted plants and bedding. This doesn't have to be done with every watering, though it wouldn't hurt. This technique is especially helpful when trying to grow acid-loving plants such as gardenias, azaleas, and dogwoods. A tablespoon of vinegar per gallon added to the sprayer when foliar feeding lawns, shrubs, flowers, and trees is also highly beneficial, especially where soil or water is alkaline. The other horticultural use for vinegar is the watering can.

Vinegar

Vinegar and orange oil have become staple products in the organic program and easier to find in garden centers, hardware stores and feed stores. We keep a pretty good reference list on our web site. Click Here to find Sources where all the stores we know about are listed in alphabetical order. By typing in your city, a list of stores near you that sell at least some of the organic products will come up. The stores that are highlighted tend to specialize in organic products and understand how to answer questions.

Vinegar is a wonderful organic tool that was discovered by accident ten thousand years ago when wine was accidentally allowed to ferment too long and turned sour. It can be made from many products, including beer, apples, berries, beets, corn, fruits, grains, honey, malt, maple syrup, melons, molasses, potatoes, rice, sorghum, and other foods containing sugar. Natural sugars from these food products are fermented into alcohol, which is them fermented into vinegar.

Treat Weeds in Paved Areas with Vinegar

Weeds can be controlled with non-toxic products.   Forget using black plastic, toxic chemical herbicides, salt and bleach. Remember one of our primary rules – do nothing to harm the life in the soil. Bleach and toxic chemical herbicides are poor choices, but there are some good ones.

To keep the weeds out of a decorative or utility gravel area, the best approach is to design them out from the beginning or use organic products later to kill the weeds. Salt, toxic herbicides and bleach should never be used because they contaminate the soil long term. They also leach into the water stream. To head off the problem, install the gravel in a thick layer – 6-8" after scraping away all grasses and weeds.

For additional control, add a layer of white caliche rock before putting the gravel on top. Any weeds that grow through the gravel can be sprayed and killed with a mix of 10% pickling vinegar mixed with 2 ounces orange oil and 1 teaspoon liquid soap or you can use commercial organic herbicides. There are also commercial products now available. Vinegar sprays can also be used to kill weeds in the cracks in sidewalks and driveways.

The strongest vinegar available in retail stores is 30% but it is far too strong and I do not recommend it. For general use 20 percent or 200 grain is available but it is stronger than needed and I no longer recommend. At this strength it is corrosive enough to eat metal and must be handled carefully in plastic containers. It is also dangerous to breathe. It will obviously kill weeds, but so will RoundUp, 2,4-D and MSMA which we also don't recommend. It works best when sprayed full strength during the heat of the day and in full sunlight. While 200-grain (20 percent) material is still on the market, it can be reduced to the recommended 100 grain (10 percent) by doubling the amount of water in the 20% vinegar. Diluting cuts the cost in half and makes it a safer product to use. The mix I recommend for weed non-selective weed control is 1-2 oz. of orange oil and 1 teaspoon of liquid soap per gallon of 10% (pickling) vinegar made from grain alcohol. Vinegar that is made from the petroleum derivative, 99% acetic acid, is not acceptable in an organic program.

If your water is alkaline, add 1 tablespoon of 50-grain (5 percent) natural apple cider vinegar to each gallon of water to improve the quality of the water for potted plants and bedding. This doesn't have to be done with every watering, though it wouldn't hurt. This technique is especially helpful when trying to grow acid-loving plants such as gardenias, azaleas, and dogwoods. A tablespoon of vinegar per gallon added to the sprayer when foliar feeding lawns, shrubs, flowers, and trees is also highly beneficial, especially where soil or water is alkaline. The other horticultural use for vinegar is the watering can.

Fruit vinegar is made from the fermentation of a variety of fruits. Apples are most commonly used, but grapes, peaches, berries and other fruits also work. The product label will identify the starting ingredients, such as "apple cider vinegar" or "wine vinegar". Malt vinegar is made from the fermentation of barley malt or other cereal grains. Sugar vinegar is made from sugar, syrup, or molasses. White, spirit, or distilled vinegar is made by fermenting distilled alcohol. Distilled white vinegar is made from 190 proof alcohol that is fermented by adding sugar and living bacterial. Natural vinegar contains at least fifty trace minerals. Vinegar that is made from the petroleum derivative, 99% acetic acid, is not acceptable in an organic program.

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening 2010
From: Bettynh
Date: 22 Jul 10 - 09:34 AM

In about 1990 my kids were 8 and we had an Apple IIGS computer. Virgil was patient and persistent as a kid (played Battle Chess through all the moves he needed to see all the battles and all the deaths). I'd heard that LOGO was educational and fun, so I bought it and set Virgil loose on it. He discovered that by typing in a long string of random numbers and pushing a single key he could make the cursor draw lines that bounced all over the screen, leaving trails. There was probably a fantasy about light lasers - he's that kind of kid. It seemed a random and useless activity to me, but experimenting was part of the point of the program, and he did no harm. It'd take about 10 minutes for him to type in the numbers, then he'd call me (and sometimes his twin brother) over to watch the show. But one time when the straight lines started pinging around the screen, a perfect circle appeared, clear of lines, in one part of the screen. As the screen continuued to fill, the circle only became more defined. It was spooky, and as far as we could tell, totally random.

I feel like I'm living in that circle now. Severe thunderstorms all around, tornado warnings, funnel clouds sighted, hail, 4 people hit by lightning in the past week, street flooding, and this little spot has had about 2 minutes of rain last night in total. A couple days ago the front yard got damp (dry under bushes and trees) and the back yard stayed completely dry.
AAARRRRGH!!!

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening 2010
From: Alice
Date: 22 Jul 10 - 10:35 AM

I've used vinegar on weeds. Just buy the cheapest stuff at the store, regular vinegar you use for cooking.


A.

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening 2010
From: gnu
Date: 22 Jul 10 - 11:01 AM

Alice... "I've used vinegar on weeds. Just buy the cheapest stuff at the store, regular vinegar you use for cooking."

Mix anything with it?

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening 2010
From: Alice
Date: 22 Jul 10 - 11:44 AM

Just pour the vinegar on the weed but realize that you don't want to do this in soil that you're growing stuff you want to keep alive. It makes the soil acidic.

I use it on the weeds that grow in the cracks between the concrete curb and the sidewalk. It's cheaper and safer than Roundup.

I have, though, used vinegar on soil that I needed to make more acidic for a plant that likes acid soil. It was coming up with yellow leaves, and after adding some dilute vinegar, turned deep green.


A.

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening 2010
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 22 Jul 10 - 12:47 PM

Grocery store vinegar isn't strong enough. And it won't make the soil acidic. If you're going to buy vinegar at the store, find the pickling vinegar, that's the right strength. Use it full strength, don't add anything else, and put it in a spray bottle, you need to get the spray on the leaves, not pour it on roots.

Your best bet is to go to the feed store for the proper strength, and again, read the label to avoid the petroleum product acetic acid. If it is vinegar you can't consume, it is vinegar you shouldn't use in the yard.

Vinegar also acts like a fertilizer, and used in small quantities in a mix (like foliar feeding) is beneficial.

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening 2010
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 24 Jul 10 - 02:19 PM

Yesterday afternoon we had almost 2 inches of rainfall. And this morning it looks like the weeds are experiencing explosive growth.

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening 2010
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 25 Jul 10 - 02:00 PM

I was up very late last night canning peaches. And then I had to shut down that operation (at a logical point, and preserve my syrup for today) and de-skunk the dogs. This time they caught a glancing blow, they didn't try to kill it.

These peaches are from a local stand, and are marvelous. I've never canned peaches before. I can see why in large families it was an assembly line process. I remember helping when my mother canned. All by myself it is quite a dance around the kitchen.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening 2010
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 26 Jul 10 - 11:55 AM

I'll buy more peaches this week, I hope, and can some more. I have only 14 pints right now, a good start on my maiden voyage for canning peaches. They average just under $1 per pint, counting fruit and sugar. Labor isn't factored in or they're way-expensive. But we all know the pleasure our future selves will experience during the winter months when we open something we put away carefully for ourselves during the hot months. :)

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening 2010
From: Bobert
Date: 30 Jul 10 - 12:54 PM

Thanks all for the good info on vinegar... The P-Vine is going to come and read it later and she'll probably have some further comments...

Dug the last of the potatoes today... Maybe 35-40 pounds outta that disappointing row...

Harvested the acorn squash... I think the plant is done but I'll keep an eye on it... We got 6 or 7 real pretty dark green ones... I'm purdy sure they will keep in the tater frig (45 degrees) for a long time...

Cuke plants continuin' their insanity... We're givin' away alot of cukes...

Pole (roma) beans about done... And we're about done pickin' and freezin' 'um...

No ripe tomatoes yet... Real late... Grrrrrrrr....

B~

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening 2010
From: MMario
Date: 30 Jul 10 - 01:38 PM

Most everything I planted this spring seems to be "taking" - putting out new growth, not loseing older leaves, etc. Three azaleas even had a flush of second blossoms! At least one of the iris I tranplanted has put out new growth...there was two weeks of scorching weather after I transpanted them so I thought I may have lost them all, but iris tubers are pretty tough.

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening 2010
From: GUEST,Janie
Date: 30 Jul 10 - 03:23 PM

Hurray, Mmario!

powdery mildew is about to finish off the slicing cuke - that plant did not do well from the start. the pickling cuke is slowing down. Having trouble using enough basil to keep it cut back and free of blooms. I still have pesto in the freezer from last year so am not inclined to freeze much of it. We love fresh pesto, but just don't get too excited in the winter about pesto from the freezer. The tomatoes are doing well. I need to fertilize again this weekend. As is par for the course by this time, the bottom leaves are starting to yellow, but the plants are still growing and bearing.

Soon it will be time to pull up the cukes, and probably some of the basil to make room for kale and fall onions. I love those small, white baby turnips, but my son won't eat them, so I don't think I'll bother. I may try some mesclun mix, but it is hard to get a fall crop of lettuce or greens here. Winter is too cold and fall is often too hot.

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening 2010
From: MMario
Date: 30 Jul 10 - 04:18 PM

How do you freeze your pesto? because an ice cube of frozen pesto dropped into minestrone or bean soup can sure add some yummy;

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening 2010
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 30 Jul 10 - 04:33 PM

Janie, as soon as you start to see the conditions for powdery mildew, or start to see a little turn up on the plants, pour a fifty-cent bottle of hydrogen peroxide (undiluted) into a spray bottle and spray the entire plant. Peroxide is a great way to deal with fungus on plants.

I've just picked up some concentrated stuff called "Veggie Wash." My organic gardening guru has been talking about this for two or three years now, and I finally decided to give it a shot. I'll read the bottle and see what I can do with it this weekend.

I've been reclaiming part of my paved space outside the back door. Years ago I put some lovely pots of mint and lemon balm on the bricks I'd set after digging up turf beside the back patio. The mint vanished but the lemon balm took off. Seeded into the cracks of the brick and took off. I like lemon balm, I put it in tea all of the time. But now it is coming up everywhere, and I'm pushing at least this patch to the very back of the yard.

Earlier today I went through the back gate to look at the area above the creek and found some cacti that I tossed there a couple of months ago. These are native plants I rescued before they ploughed under the prairie to build houses across the road from us. I was tired of looking at it in disintegrating pots and knew I wouldn't plant them anywhere, so I tossed them in the back to see what would happen. They're growing happily under the trees. I think that back area needs some good root structure to keep from washing out, so I'll keep tossing all of these plants and seeds on the back of the lot and let them do their thing. I've got to spray a little poison ivy back there - I've killed most of it. That was the ground cover back there when I moved in, but I'd prefer more benign plants. Poison Ivy is so hard on me. . .

I have an eggplant with at least a half dozen fruits ready to pick today. I took a bag of okra to the next door neighbor (I've been tossing them in the freezer) and got a squeal of thanks for it. Those same two plants are coming up with a lot more every day now so I think the next bag will come in a few days. Still no overflowing of tomatoes, just a few cherry tomatoes every so often. Janie, for the way too much basil and such, my co-workers know that when I come into the office with a couple of buckets that it's time for the fresh produce! I took a lot of basil over yesterday. Also gave away at least a half-dozen eggplants and a bunch of peppers.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening 2010
From: Janie
Date: 30 Jul 10 - 06:46 PM

I haven't tried hydrogen peroxide, but was planning on using it on another of the big trees that was attacked by that dread fungus, but which the arborist says can probably be treated and saved.

As small as my little raised bed garden is, I really don't have time to do much in terms of disease/pest control. That's why I pulled the zucchini, and I really should have pulled the one cuke before now.   I'll jerk it out this weekend.

Between my son, working 60+hours on the weeks I don't have him, the 45 minute commute with the new job, visiting a former client who is at the inpatient hospice, and all my weekend trips up to WV to spend time with my Dad and Mom, what can't take care of itself other than watering and fertilizing has to go. I've been very lucky with thunderstorms most of the summer, or would not have been able to keep up with the watering either.

Not a whine - just the way things are. I'm just happy to grow what I can for as long as it will grow.

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening 2010
From: gnu
Date: 30 Jul 10 - 07:04 PM

Used regular white vinegar (5%) with a squirt of liquid dishwashing soap in a handheld spray bottle. Killed em dead in one spray. Now, the dandelions took two sprays.

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening 2010
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 31 Jul 10 - 01:12 PM

I should have put in my fall stuff already, but I didn't. So I'll probably do it this weekend and run a soaker hose through the bedding plants and have a neighbor water this bed for me when I'm away for a few days in August. I hate trying to get a garden set up just to have to leave it to the minitrations of someone who didn't do all of the work. Though if I make sure gardener neighbors water, then it should be okay.

This week we're supposed to be in the triple digits for several days. Everything is green right now because of all of the rain. I suspect brown will soon be the color, for those of us who don't water turf much.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening 2010
From: gnu
Date: 31 Jul 10 - 02:14 PM

Welcome to gnu's Garden Game!

My back is messed up bad. So no gardening at all this year. Just annuals in flower pots. But I had a bunch of seeds left over from when I used to grow stuff up at my camp in the backwoods. No, Bobert.

So, I was cleaning cupboards a few weeks back and found the seeds. I went to a 20 square foot plot behind my garage, hoed and raked it, scattered the seeds willy-nilly, raked em in and watered em.

If you can identify what is growing, weeds included (No Bobert... weedS), you could win a fabulous, all paid, one day vacation* within walking distance of your abode. Just send me the receipts and I will have one of my accountants issue a cheque.

I might, from time to time, remember to take and post pics as my garden grows. But, you might have to PM me to remind me to do so.

Here is gnu's back twenty.






*One day vacation excludes night. For complete contest rules, guess.

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening 2010
From: Janie
Date: 01 Aug 10 - 02:07 AM

Well 'geez, gnuzer. All look an edible shade of green to me. Eat some of them in a salad. If you live to tell about it, I win!

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening 2010
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 01 Aug 10 - 02:50 AM

We must have a skunk den in the area. My dogs (the catahoula this time) killed another skunk. One last Saturday night, another this Saturday night. This isn't how I like to experience my yard in summer.

These are young ones, not so heavy as the adults, but they still make a mighty stink. The pit bull stayed out of harms way, but the catahoula got a direct shot to the face, on the side under her ear. It is just such a foul smell. I'm spritzing her with the enzyme stuff about every 20 minutes. She's the one with a heavy coat. And she keeps shaking off before I'm out of the way.

The back yard smells awful, so no matter how nice it looks after mowing, and how much I'd like to resume using my clothes lines, I'm going to have to wait some more. And see if there are any gaps in the fence I can fill. Thing is, these skunks are all hair - when I look at the actual size, they might be able to go through the chain links of the fence. Maybe there is some mesh I can install on the bottom of the fence.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening 2010
From: gnu
Date: 01 Aug 10 - 06:35 AM

SRS.

That really stinks.

What a terrible thing to have to contend with. Too bad the dogs can't learn to "avoid" the skunks... if possible.

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening 2010
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 01 Aug 10 - 11:25 AM

One dog has learned. But that still leaves one really stinky dog. :-/

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening 2010
From: gnu
Date: 01 Aug 10 - 02:15 PM

My old man told me of his cousin's dog... it was just about to bite a skunk which made a den under the barn when the skunk sprayed directly into his mouth. The dog went through a hay field with his head sideways to the ground and his mouth open. he made it to the river where he began drinking and vomiting. Eat grass, drink water, vomit.

He came home three days later. Every time he smelled a skunk after that, he would go apeshit and bark incessantly until Dad's cousin killed the skunk.

Thank goodness he learned a lesson because there was a porcupine in the outhouse not long after and he wouldn't go near it.

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening 2010
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 01 Aug 10 - 02:32 PM

I didn't think about that. It hit awfully close to her mouth. I wonder if that's part of the problem, on that skin as well as her coat? Ugg.

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening 2010
From: Janie
Date: 01 Aug 10 - 02:46 PM

Good luck, Stilly.


Waughhh!!!!! 3 big mortgagelifters very nearly ripe. Big rain. Split tomatoes.

*sob*

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening 2010
From: Alice
Date: 01 Aug 10 - 10:10 PM

aaarrrgh!

Another devastating (for the garden) hail storm.

Things look like they were shot with buckshot or hacked with machetes.

Next year I may only grow potatoes.



Alice

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening 2010
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 02 Aug 10 - 12:33 AM

I trimmed a bunch of the volunteer tomatoes (cherry) that are crowding the eggplant, because at this point I'd rather have the eggplant. And I have about a pound and a half of green cherry tomatoes in the fridge. I am going to trim more in a couple of days and put those in a bucket also and take these to a friend who makes green tomato relish. I just opened a jar of same that my neighbor gave me a few weeks ago, and it is simply marvelous! It sure is hard to part with green tomatoes, but when they're literally acting like weeds, they might as well go for something good!

I have other tomatoes in the yard, but it happens many of those with fruit are knocking over my eggplants.

Later on I'll be leaving the garden to the tender ministrations of a couple of neighbors and my ex will feed and water the dogs. I hope the garden is up to it! I really do hate leaving in the middle of the growing season when it means all of my work could wither and die in the course of a week. I'm having other gardeners do my watering, though, and they're to keep whatever is ripe enough to pick, so I'm sure it'll work out okay. (My next door neighbor is thrilled with the okra, and I have almost another quart again already, just off of two plants. They're certainly getting big, and they grow fast!)

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening 2010
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 02 Aug 10 - 12:57 PM

Whoa. Forecast is for 105 today and 106 tomorrow.

Last night I went out and used Veggie Wash for the first time. You put it in your sprayer (it's a concentrate, 2oz per gallon, and I added a fish fertilizer and some compost tea) and then you spray plants until the leaves are just dripping, and try to get it under leaves as well. It's an insecticidal soap with a few micro nutrients. My garden guru has been raving about it for a couple of years now.

This morning I went out and hand watered, to be sure there is enough water under the mulch to keep the garden standing in this heat. Tomorrow I probably won't water, I'll try to water deep and less frequently, it's better for the plants.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening 2010
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 03 Aug 10 - 02:32 AM

I roasted a couple of my eggplants and made baba ganoush this evening. My eggplants, garlic, and parsley went into it. And I made pita bread to go with it. Running to the store would have been faster, but they never have very good pitas. This was heavenly.

Such a hot week coming up, keeping the garden standing, let alone producing, will be the challenge. Is everyone else getting very hot weather right now? We have 106 predicted for tomorrow.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening 2010
From: MMario
Date: 04 Aug 10 - 08:40 AM

I "harvested" the first of my container grown potatoes....not much of a crop as I put too many in to begin with, and I should have used a deeper container; but still about 3 x what I planted - and it's so cool! Learned a lot growing them this way this year and next year hope to do it right....

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening 2010
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 05 Aug 10 - 01:06 AM

Leo, that's usually how I approach any new crop in the garden. Put in a few, see how they do, think about what must be done to make them better, and decide if you want to do it again. One of these years I do want to plant potatoes. I'm never early enough. Last year I grew corn, which is why this year I didn't grow corn. It's a lot of work for a small return.

Gave 4.5 lbs of green tomatoes to a friend today. They're from a plant I trimmed out of the garden path and that was leaning too hard on my eggplants. I have plenty of other tomatoes. I should have pulled this when it was small, but it seems so counter intuitive to pull the very things you're trying to grow! (I know, things need to be thinned, but I'm not real good at that, either. I try to plant my seeds far enough apart to begin with.)

We've had about a week of 100+ weather, and another week of it looms. I'm still watering infrequently, but watering deeply when I do. The garden is holding up so far.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening 2010
From: MMario
Date: 05 Aug 10 - 09:21 AM

yup - with new internet markets and more variety in the local nurseries I'm trying new plants - and I put in one or two; see how they winter then buy more if it works.

REALLY hope everything pulls through I planted this spring - the stuff I put in last year did....

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening 2010
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 05 Aug 10 - 11:47 PM

Looks like thrips or mealy bugs attacking one plant. Used the plant wash again and some BT because it also looked like some caterpillar poop on a few leaves.

I took another quart bag of okra to the next door neighbor. When I'm gone for a few days she's going to have to pick them herself (I grew them for her). It'll be interesting to see if she finds them all. I have four humongous okras that I left for seeds. Maybe I'll remove them before I leave so she doesn't get intimidated by them. :)

Anyone else do that, by the way? Have a friend or family who can't quite get a favorite veggie to grow, so grow it for them? I can't imagine that I've invented an altruistic form of gardening, have I?

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening 2010
From: Bettynh
Date: 06 Aug 10 - 08:54 AM

When I gardened in the middle of Worcester, Mass. on an abandoned lot during the 60s, we surrounded the main garden with a hedge of tomatoes, left unsupported and unpruned. The neighbors appreciated it, and no one vandalized it. One big help to that plan was the local cut-rate garden store that gave away bunches of 50 tomato seedlings every spring for free. The town was flooded in tomato plants, and they got a roaring business.

I grew up on what had been a small nursery. Nothing left of it but the fruits. We had 2 apple trees - a Duchess, which produces in August, but the apples quickly turn mealy and nasty, and a Cortland, a late keeper apple. 2 pears - a Bartlett, which needs to be picked green for whole fruit, though the ones that fall to the ground, bird-pecked and attacked by hornets, are delicious if soft, and a Seckel, tiny lumps of honey that ripen much later. And two grapes - Concord, which is sour and inedible when green and ripens first, and Niagara, with better flavor, later, and ripe when it's green. We had no fences, neighborhood kids were expected to graze at will on what they could find. They never touched the Seckel pears or Niagara grapes, and the Cortland always had plenty of fallen apples for everyone.

I guess these are more examples of defensive gardening than altruistic, but they worked great.

We're just done with a couple more days of 90 degree temperatures. 19 days at or above 90 in July, two so far this month. Two or three in June. Last year there were 3, total, I think. Yesterday I watched one storm split as it approached us, half going 5 miles north, half 5 miles south. A second wave came with flood warnings (finally! real rain!). We got a half-hour of gentle mist as the storm split and the heavy rain areas went north and south. Total of less than a quarter inch. Last month's total was less than an inch. It's getting downright spooky.

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening 2010
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 06 Aug 10 - 10:26 AM

Betty, I'm sure I've mentioned growing up in Seattle a couple of houses down from an old man whose yard must have been lovely when he and his wife were young. After she died and he got old it was an untended tangle of fruit (raspberries and blackberries) and trees (plums, apples, pears, peaches, and others I can't recall that my best friend's mother used to pick and can). We must have pooped pure berry seeds during some of the summer, we ate so many raspberries in particular.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening 2010
From: maire-aine
Date: 06 Aug 10 - 07:06 PM

Some more garden photos
from the sunny flower bed.

Maryanne

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening 2010
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 07 Aug 10 - 12:11 AM

Lovely lilies!

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening 2010
From: Alice
Date: 08 Aug 10 - 12:09 AM

Great lilies, Maryanne!

One of my favorite flowers in my garden is a
day lily I bought about 20 years ago. It is
a delicate peach color called Teahouse Geisha.

They have just started to bloom. I'll try to get a photo tomorrow.


A.

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening 2010
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 08 Aug 10 - 12:17 AM

The garden is taking a beating in all of this heat. Thrips, aphids, mealy bugs, leaf-footed bugs (a member of the stink bug family) are all appearing. I'm getting up early to apply dry molasses and corn gluten meal dry under everything, then do a foliar feeding with some other good stuff, to be followed by heavily watering in the fertilizer. The pests are arriving because the plants are stressed. If I can't make the heat go away I can at least give the plants more energy to grow with.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening 2010
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 08 Aug 10 - 01:24 PM

I pulled out some tomatoes, trimmed others way back. Put out some dry molasses and watered it in. Maybe a little sugar boost will push the plants past the doldrums of August.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening 2010
From: gnu
Date: 08 Aug 10 - 01:27 PM

Dry molasses? Never heard of it.

Glad I got out of bed today.

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening 2010
From: Bettynh
Date: 08 Aug 10 - 05:24 PM

I miss lilies. We've recently been invaded by red lily beetles that completely consumed a big bed of tiger lilies. Contrary to the writeup, they didn't touch the fritillaries. I tried a bt spray, and it slowed them some, but the lilies are gone.

SRS, I still plant my yard with a nod toward passing foragers. But kids are tightly controlled now. Their parents are uncomfortable at the thought that they might pick something and injest it without an adult beside them. They could just reach in from the road and have cherries, currants, cornelian cherries, or grapes, but they don't. It's just sad.

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening 2010
From: Bobert
Date: 08 Aug 10 - 05:46 PM

This is the time of year when we are both so worn down from gardening that it isn't fun... Throw in the 90+ degree days and we're lookin' forward to late October... Allready makin' plans to get away...

Picked about 5 pounds of beans this morning and then went down the row and cut the stems... Enough is enough... We have frozen enough to last us a couple years, have given away another 20 or so pounds so it was time... The two picking cukes are next to get the pruner... But...

...our tomatoes are finally comin' in... The Celebritys, whcih we can, are about 3 days away from being perfect... Then it will be 30 pounds of them every day... BTW, wide mouth lids have gone up to $2.50 a box!!! They used to be a buck... Ain't been that long either...

All the ornimentals are doing great 'cause we have been weedin' and muclchin' like crazy... Mulched our azalea beds down in our pond fiield t5he last 2 days... Took about 15 buckets (1/2 yard) of mulch to finish it... One would never believe that it wasn't even there 4 months ago... Lotta natives in there where it is sunny...

Well, I'm takin' a break from the grill and reckon it's time to go check the chicken...

B~

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening 2010
From: gnu
Date: 08 Aug 10 - 06:14 PM

Bobert... "We have frozen enough to last us a couple years..."

How do you freeze them? Blanch first?... or what?

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening 2010
From: Alice
Date: 08 Aug 10 - 08:44 PM

My Teahouse Geisha daylily is blooming.

PHOTO HERE

Subject: RE: BS: Gardening 2010
From: maire-aine
Date: 08 Aug 10 - 09:19 PM

That's a beauty, Alice.