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BS: Gardening, 2009
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BS: Gardening, 2009 |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 18 Sep 09 - 02:51 PM We've had so much rain I'm glad I didn't plant anything, it would have rotted. I'll try once it drys out a little. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Bobert Date: 18 Sep 09 - 03:05 PM I'm with maeve... Post when I have more time... But 3/10's inch of rain in the last 4 weeks sucks... B~ |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 18 Sep 09 - 11:05 PM Back in moderate drought, but with some very helpful slow, gentle rain the past few days - not a drought buster, but what fell came softly enough to soak in and not run off, and has saved some plants whose survival was otherwise questionable. Looking at the big cracks in my yard and really, really understanding how much more clay-ee the soil is here. Also contemplating the full effect of all the trees in terms of moisture. Got some pretty extensive cost/benefit analysis to research and think through in addition to site analysis. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Bobert Date: 12 Oct 09 - 03:58 PM Sniff... Well, this one, for the most part, is in the books (and jars and the freezer)... Today was put-the-garden-away-for-the-season day... Yep, we harvested evrything left (10 pounds ripe tomatoes, 30 pounds green tomatoes, 20 some large eggpant, 10 pounds banana peppers, 10 pounds assorted other peppers, a couple stray pumpkins, 15 pounds of lima beans in their shells), removed all the cages, pulled up the plants for drying and burning and plowed evrything else in... We still have fall crops at the top end of the garden (kale, spinich, arugala, lettuce and brocolli)... Gonna shell the limas tonight and we'll freeze them... The eggplant does not freeze well so the P-Vine will take most of it to the garden club tomorrow along with alot of the peppers... But, sniff... ...this one is done!!! On the other front, however, this is a great time to transplant everygreens and move other plants so that is exactly what the P-Vine is doing this afternoon... Been fun... Got loads of food for winter but... ...sniff, none the less... B~ |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 12 Oct 09 - 06:30 PM Mine should be going for another month, but it is still so wet that it's difficult to get out to put in winter stuff. Too wet, the seeds will rot. I have some tomatoes but this rain ruined the eggplants. I had one bean plant in I'd ignored and found about a pound of beans on it last week. Nice surprise! Lots of peppers and herbs. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 12 Oct 09 - 09:31 PM Still harvesting cherry and patio tomatoes from pots, and still have lots of basil. The caladiums are starting to feel the cooler night temps. I'm still having to irrigate the hydrangeas and Bobert's azalea that I planted out this spring. The neighborhood is alive night and day with the sound of acorns falling with pistol-fire cracks onto metal-roofed sheds and free-standing aluminum carports. The slightest breeze sends thousands of them. A good year for mast for squirrels, deer, bear and such in the Carolinas. Wish I had a pecan tree here. Am hoping my youngin' will bring me a 5 gallon bucket of them from the old place when they start falling heavily in November. Nut trees bear in cycles, and this year looks to be a good one. I'm not going to buy a leaf shredder, but I am going to buy a leaf blower this fall if budget permits at all. The soil here is heavy, red clay. I don't have the money to buy hardscape materials, nor the truck or trailer to haul loads of topsoil and compost. So I am going for a very long range plan. I will have mountains and mountains of leaves. I'm going to blow them into high mounds anywhere I think I might want to plant something or start a bed in the future, wet them down good and cover the mounds loosely with black plastic to keep the leaves from blowing away. Would be better to shred them first, but pile them high enough and leave them long enough and they will rot. I'll let the earthworms til them into the clay. I have finally accepted that my life circumstances are not going to allow for much gardening for a few years other than in pots or a small bed here and there. So I'll let time work for me. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 12 Oct 09 - 09:33 PM Sorry. Forgot to the after will. I ain't nearly as emphatic as I typed:O) |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: maeve Date: 13 Oct 09 - 04:56 AM Great idea, Janie. The Time as soil-maker technique has worked well for me. If you're able to toss on some organic fertilizer before covering your piles the process will be enhanced. Most of the veggie gardens are now clear, and I hope to get some mulch on the beds after a hard freeze or two. I have several beds of young beets, kale, carrots, spinach, and chard planted as well as the mature beds of the same. I've put row covers over them and will add plastic over the covers so the young ones will grow for another month before resting over the winter and harvest can continue for much of the winter in the beds with more mature plants. Come spring we'll have early greens and sweet carrots. I still have hundreds of potted perennials to replant, pots to clean and sort, greenhouse to clear and set up for spring planting...and ripe strawberries in the greenhouse. Happy garden dreaming for next season... |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Bobert Date: 13 Oct 09 - 08:38 AM I have been negligent in my composting... I was hoping to have built a chicken wire bin for my leaves but just never got to it... I even know where it is going to go but, alas, time slipped way this season... I do have several piles doing the slow burn and I have my tumbler but, geeze... Need to get that going... I did, however, end up buying some crappy straw this past year to multh the veggie garden which had alot of see in it and the barley was up 18 inches yesterday when I plowed so I set the plow for the full 15 inches and let 'er rip... That barley, plus the straw is under 15 inches of freshly turned garden soil now so we should be okay with organic material rotting this winter... We are going to sort thru our final harvest this morning and come up with a distribution plan... Fortunately, the Garden Club meets today so there will be some willing takers... B~ |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 13 Oct 09 - 10:01 AM Yesterday as I drove my daughter back up to college in the late morning we drove past a huge pile of tree chippings that had a light steam or smoke coming out of the top. I explained to her about spontaneous combustion. Don't see it often, but it has been known to burn down barns in the hay was put away wet. I'm going to work on building up the soil levels over the winter. It will probably be on the budget plan--for every bag of store-bought top soil and bag of humate I'll mix in a bucketful of my backyard compost. It will get mixed in the wheelbarrow and then poured into the places I want a higher profile. I have a question. I haven't grown strawberries before, but I put in some this year. Will they overwinter if I put mulch over the top of them, and what about all of these new little plants on the runners? Can I dig them and relocated them without harming any of the rest of the plant (my guess is yes, but I'd like to hear what creative strawberry things the rest of you are doing). Have you ever used one of those strawberry pots? I have one that I've never planted, but if I tucked some of these little plants into it, will they overwinter and will this continue to produce for more than one season? SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Bobert Date: 13 Oct 09 - 10:08 AM Strawberries are like weeds, Magz... No problem over wintering them... Yes, you can cut thru the stolins and make new plants... Mulch with something that allows air movement such as straw or pine needles... Straw is better... B~ |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: maeve Date: 13 Oct 09 - 10:27 AM I have had my first successful strawberry pot this year, SRS. I'll be tucking it into a shed I think, with somstraw tied 'round it I think. Other strawberries are in a whisky barrel ('Roman' variety with pink flowers and good-size fruit) and several hanging baskets. I'll be experimenting with winter care for those too. The strawberries out in the asparagus bed I'll simply mulch well with straw. Alpines I just ignore and they are fine each spring. maeve |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 13 Oct 09 - 02:46 PM Good! I had straw in mind to mulch them. And weeds--all the better. |
