Gardening

[Telemark]

Got the beds flipped and all the crabgrass runners pulled out.

Feels good to be ahead of things for a change instead of always playing catch up.

Lost my source of black dirt, so the new beds will have to wait a year.

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Try Berkeley compost. It only takes 2 or 3 weeks to finish a batch, and the ingredients are usually easy to find. I do mine in a bin made from pallets. I can make a few tons each year, and it costs me nothing. It is the best soil amendment I have ever used.

 

[chucker66]

Onions, tomatoes (Amish Paste, Roma, San Marzano, Big Boy, and Cherry) and peppers are all up in my basement. Just started 72 marigolds to try to combat the deer. WIll start some Broccoli and Cauliflower this afternoon.

 

[trampledbyturtles]

After a long day at the farm planting trees. Figured I'd get the horseradish bed in with a bit of help from Piper. Feels like I'm running out of spring.

 

[Telemark]

Feels like I'm running out of spring

I have the opposite problem. I have hundreds of seedlings to plant out, but the temps are still dipping below freezing at night.

 

[H20fwler]

I’m going small this year couple tomato plants some peppers cucumbers and some squash.

I’ve got a little patch of Taiwanese horseradish next to garage that grows pretty tall close to 3’, it is almost dangerous to handle roots raw in the fall it is so acidic. It sure makes hot horseradish sauce though.
Also have a clump each of parsley and oregano.

 

[Bowhuntr09]

We have (had) 5 cucumber seedlings growing in a cup. They were doing well but not yet big enough to plant. That is until my wife watered them with a little miracle grow mixed in the water. Within an hour they were drooping and hanging limp. Any idea why that would happen?

 

[Telemark]

We have (had) 5 cucumber seedlings growing in a cup. They were doing well but not yet big enough to plant. That is until my wife watered them with a little miracle grow mixed in the water. Within an hour they were drooping and hanging limp. Any idea why that would happen?

Seedlings don't like fertilizer. Probably burned the roots. I tend to sow in peat moss on top of a layer of compost. I mix in a bit of sand for water-sensitive seedlings like lettuce and basil. Nothing gets fertilizer until it's well established. Most things never get fertilizer, rather a heap of compost instead.

 

[H20fwler]

We have (had) 5 cucumber seedlings growing in a cup. They were doing well but not yet big enough to plant. That is until my wife watered them with a little miracle grow mixed in the water. Within an hour they were drooping and hanging limp. Any idea why that would happen?

Yep sounds like fertilizer over load.
Once my cucumbers and tomatoes are established well I fertilize them every other week with miracle grow and they seem to love it.
I back off when fruit starts to ripen it will make my tomatoes split they grow so fast and the cukes will go donkey dick overnight.

 

[Bowhuntr09]

Yeah, I was thinking a little fertilizer might get them ready to plant a little sooner. I didn’t really think Miraclegrow was that potent. Live and learn. Thanks for the replies.

 

[chucker66]

I never fertilize my seedlings. I use a potting soil that has a slow release fertilizer already in it so that by the time I'm ready to transplant them into the garden they are ready for more fertilizer. then I do what H2Ofwler does and it seems to work pretty well. I am trying a whole new garden system this year. I built a self watering system similar to what this guy does.

 

[PatinPA]

My garden has been overrun with thistle. Anybody know how to get rid of it? I would prefer not to use chemicals if possible. I've tried digging every last one out but it always seems like part of the root breaks off. Also have tried spraying them with vinegar. They wilt but then bounce right back. This year I laid a tarp over part of it and a thick layer of leaf mulch over the rest and it still poked through. It's even still growing under the tarp.

 

[4wanderingeyes]

Borax works, just apply it on the thistle, and reapply if it starts growing again.

 

[trampledbyturtles]

Quick update, finally catching a few showers, things are progressing fast. Last month.
Now


Also have side project I'm working on, dedicated half a bed to soil building. Rotating through three covers on it, mustard in the spring. Has vetch on it now, will terminate and plant oats going into fall.



Finally getting some decent crops of beets. Took a few years of failures to dial that one in. Was having some crazy pest issues.

 

[Telemark]

My garden has been overrun with thistle. Anybody know how to get rid of it? I would prefer not to use chemicals if possible. I've tried digging every last one out but it always seems like part of the root breaks off. Also have tried spraying them with vinegar. They wilt but then bounce right back. This year I laid a tarp over part of it and a thick layer of leaf mulch over the rest and it still poked through. It's even still growing under the tarp.

You really should use chemicals. Just apply it to the leaves with a small paintbrush.

 

[trampledbyturtles]

Digging up the yard is gotta be one of my favorite things to do, less mowing. Didnt have to be 94 tho.

 

[swat1018]

Ate my first tomato of 2021 today!

 

[OakSeeds]

Just shy of 8 feet and cranking tomatoes; don't like where they will be by the end of August ... all bent over probably. 2nd photo is same time last year ...
The 3rd photo shows a plant that was stunted after we experienced a 8-10 inch two day rain a few weeks ago; it really has never recovered.
The last 2 photos exhibit some of the production I am passing out in the neighborhood; love to give them to friends/associates and folks who let me hunt on their land.

 

[trampledbyturtles]

Trying a new seed starting method this year. Built a germination chamber with my yeti, some bricks and a aquarium tank heater set to 78. Onions and leeks are up. Ready for some fresh veg after a long winter.

 

[Barndog56]

Topped off my raised beds this last weekend. Here's a pic with my homemade compost next to our regular topsoil.