| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| Alee |
Posted - May 27 2007 : 11:33:20 AM
Hi ladies!
Just wondering how your garden is doing? I think mine is about ready for me to harvest the first set of lettuce leaves! I am really excited but I think I will wait a week or so more just to let the plants get a bit bigger.
My carrots are flourishing! I have thinned them out once already, and I need to do it again. I also think I will plant secondary carrot seeds so I will have two crops. I spaced the rows WAY to far apart, but I think that will end up working out in my favor.
My peas are looking great. Some of them are over a 16 inches tall now! I really need to get some chicken wire for them to climb. Some of them aren't even 5 inches tall though so I am not quite sure why they aren't thriving like the ones just a few feet away.
My tomatoes are suffering. I only have 10 plants in the ground and I have tons more that I need to plant. I bought over 2 dozen. The ones in the ground are doing great, but I am just waiting for them to grow a bit. I am sure they have grown since they were planted, but it sure doesn't look like it!
I have had horrible sunflower fatalities. Very sad about that. I planted 5 so far, and only 2 have survived the local dogs running loose in the backyard and the roofer guy running over them with his truck and trailer.
Did I mention my roofer guy parked his truck ON TOP of my garden? my poor lettuce- I was sure it was dead!
Anyway back to the sunflowers- I have another dozen or so that are just little sproutlings that need to be planted. I think I am going to try a different approach this time and stake them so people hopefully won't demolish them. I hate to use an inorganic fertilizer, but I might give them a shot or two of miracle-grow to help them get established.
And my corn and squash still needs to be planted. I am hoping I haven't procrastinated too much! Before I can plant the corn and squash I need to dig another garden plot. I just need a sunny and dry day to do some garden work.
So that is pretty much my garden update- How is yours doing? Anything ready for early harvest yet?
Alee
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| 25 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| Trace |
Posted - Jun 30 2007 : 1:58:21 PM
My sweet basil is thriving. Pesto making is the plan for tonight at my place. The weather has been so dry, odd for us. The yards are burning up, at least that saves gas, lol. But now we are rigging up hoses to water the garden. Still things look good. The baby zuchinni are begging to be eaten, soon. My roma beans have blossoms and there are baby cukes clinging to the fence. Soybeans are up as is the second planting of spinach. I thinned the late planted radishs and need to plant another row. My thai black pumkins are comming along, corn is up but the deer are walking through it lie they own the place (fence is now being erected, lol)When I was out weeding this morning, I noticed beets and turnips are forming. I still have a few more things to get into the ground and crossing my fingers I still have time, lol
( ; Trace
pics from my world.. http://s4.photobucket.com/albums/y144/tra-dun/ |
| AliShuShu |
Posted - Jun 27 2007 : 8:21:33 PM
those old summer thunderstorms have been rolling through here almost nightly for nearly 2 weeks and my garden is happy! everything is thriving... corn, sunflowers, beans, tomatoes, cukes, eggplant, squash, peppers... the okra is a little slow, but i'm going to fertilize everything soon... we also need to get some fencing up around the beans because they are wanting to climb and there's nothing there to grab hold of...
my harvest so far has been 2 pattypan squash, 2 hot peppers and the best cucumber i think i've ever had! YUM!
Alison
I think that if ever a mortal heard the voice of God it would be in a garden at the cool of the day. ~F. Frankfort Moore, A Garden of Peace
Namaste'
www.shumusings.com |
| CabinCreek-Kentucky |
Posted - Jun 27 2007 : 8:01:12 PM
picked my first zucchinni and squash .. tomatoes are still teensy ..got a real late start getting them into the ground!
herbs, fleurs and especially sunflowers are growing by leaps and bounds. planted a late 'wildflower' garden for cutting flowers .. they are just little sprigs right now .. i fear they will 'bite the dust' when we leave for ohio for a week in july .. with no one here to water them!
True Friends, Frannie
CABIN CREEK FARM
KENTUCKY
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| Alee |
Posted - Jun 27 2007 : 7:13:21 PM
It is overcast right now and it might rain tonight. That would be nice since I haven't had time to go out and garden today. I did super saturate with water last night so I know it was okay through the heat of the day. I need to go wrap up the cord to my lawn mower and put some tools away though. I had to feel my way back into the house last night- I stayed out until it was pitch black! LOL! I was thinning carrots by feel!
Alee
The amazing one handed typist! One hand for tying, one hand to hold Nora! |
| lamarguerite farm |
Posted - Jun 27 2007 : 5:22:43 PM
Just updated my blog with the latest garden pictures. Things are still slow going. I would love to have more than one or two days of warm weather and sunshine at a time. Happy Gardening!!!
Blessings,
Missy
If you have a dream, even if you don't feel qualified to accomplish it, just try your hardest.-Maggie Jensen
http://18happyhens.blogspot.com
www.LaMargueriteFarm.com |
| oceanfarmgirl |
Posted - Jun 26 2007 : 11:12:44 PM
Mine is doing OK. The DOG keeps eating things. Working on keeping her OUT. Other than that, I'm just waiting... I have a later season here. Very tepid temps here, and things take longer to ripen. My plants are growing, though! And my tomatoes are looking healthy!
See what I'm up to on my blog... http://minetothine.blogspot.com
OR check out my gardening activities at http://oceanfarmgirlsgarden.blogspot.com |
| Alee |
Posted - Jun 24 2007 : 4:15:24 PM
Oh My Word!
My garden has come into it's own while I was gone- but so have the weeds! My lettuce bolted, so I had bigh huge spires to break off, my carrots are looking like I can start harvesting some of them, and I have picked about a gallon of pea pods! The tomatoes are still runty looking, and my fiance forgot to water about half of them. I am hoping that some of them will come back. I have a bunch of sunflowers that I need to plant and one from my first batch is still alive (amazingly enough!)
And the biggest suprise of all- Somone mowed my really high grass for me!
I am going to be spending every spare minute out in the garden for the next few days. I need to get the weeds under control. After I get them under control, I am going to be putting newspaper down to control the weeds and keep the moisture in the soil. Some of the weeds are up to my knees!!
Alee
The amazing one handed typist! One hand for tying, one hand to hold Nora! |
| Alee |
Posted - Jun 19 2007 : 08:58:42 AM
Angie-
An eye dropper might work, but I wouldn't water for a few days or you might have some of the poison spread. I am not sure how many days it takes for it to really work into the plant. I think the bottle says.
I really hate using it, but might have to do it also to get some of the noxious weeds in our yard taken care of. I guess I kind of rationalize it because I am getting rid of the noxious and invasive weeds that are harming the helpful plants and in some places the native plants! And if we are careful, the poison will only do it's damage on the bad plants and once we get these nasties taken care of we can be happy and secure back in our organic practices.
I suppose that if you went out every day and just pulled and pulled and pulled you might get the problem taken care of without the Round-Up, but I can't spend 5-6 hours a day weeding my little 20X2 foot garden.
Alee
The amazing one handed typist! One hand for tying, one hand to hold Nora! |
| asnedecor |
Posted - Jun 19 2007 : 06:51:39 AM
Thank you Alee for confirming the way I feel. I try not to use any weed spray and we never use pesticides, but there are times when pulling, digging and clipping will not get rid of certain weeds. We get black berry starts and other woody type starts like holly in and around our yard. If I find them early I can pull them up with no problem, but there are times when I don't find them and I can not get the whole root. So I do take the roundup, with a low to drip nozzle, go directly to the spot and give it a little squirt. I find that it works well without getting into the rest of my stuff. I feel guilty when I do it, but there are times when you have no choice. This year has been a real challenge and I believe I will have to spray a couple of little spots where I can not get rid of certain "invasive" items.
Anne in Portland
"Weeds are flowers too, once you get to know them" Eyeore from Winnie the Pooh
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| emsmommy5 |
Posted - Jun 18 2007 : 9:32:46 PM
I was wondering if an eye dropper would work or would the painting be best? And, how long before the weed killer gets down far enough into the plant? Quite a bit of the thistles have escaped into the lawn and I would like to "treat" them before i mow them all down with the lawn mower as they are easier to see when the lawn isn't mowed. Should I wait a few hours, a day???
Lord, keep your arm around my shoulder and your hand over my mouth! |
| Alee |
Posted - Jun 18 2007 : 5:00:16 PM
Angie-
I know it is so disheartening to find the morning glories, bind weeds and thistle invading our gardens. I normally say go fully organic, but these things demand stronger action! I would suggest buying yourself a small bottle of round up, some rubber gloves and one of those black spounge paintbrushes.
Put on your rubber gloves, pour a little of the round up into a container you can toss after the season is over. Paint the leaves and stalks of the plants you want to kill with the round up. I would just do the stuff that is not touching your food plants for now and just clip the shoots that are close to your plants. As they die, lay down wet newspaper (as thick as you can) and cover with grass clippings. This should help choke out the weeds.
You might need to re-apply the round up several times, but the poison should go into the plant and kill the roots.
Good luck!
Alee
The amazing one handed typist! One hand for tying, one hand to hold Nora! |
| emsmommy5 |
Posted - Jun 18 2007 : 3:01:42 PM
Well, my daughter and I were in the garden last night looking for things we planted. We started some things from seeds and others from plants. But when I say find, I mean FIND! I rototilled the garden really well and the soil looked great. But now we have a bumper crop of morning glory and thistles. It is so bad that I about cried. You cannot pull the stupid things or it makes it worse, so obviously rototilling was the best thing I could have done to create such a disaster. The only hope anyone has ever given me, besides moving, is to clip each start at it's base until it finally dies. Yeah right, the stuff has invaded every garden area, flower bed, and other place around our home. With the lament done, the cucumber, tomato plants, and other things are up and going. I think I may cut some lettuce for a salad. If I can find it again. =)
Lord, keep your arm around my shoulder and your hand over my mouth! |
| asnedecor |
Posted - Jun 14 2007 : 06:52:15 AM
Well the bluejays dug up all of the sunflower seeds I planted and ate them. But good news, just outside of my raised beds are some volunteer sunflowers, so I am going to transplant those into the place were I planted the others. At least the squirrels have left the vegetable garden alone this year - usually they dig up the potatoe starts or eat the strawberries. I usually plant extra stuff anyway to "sacrafice" to the critters so that I can have enough for DH and I.
Anne in Portland
"Weeds are flowers too, once you get to know them" Eyeore from Winnie the Pooh
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| Alee |
Posted - Jun 12 2007 : 7:28:20 PM
Wow Sarah! It sounds like you are using every available inch of your land!
I am hoping to expand my garden for next year. It looks like I won't get my corn or squash planted in time for this year and the sedge grass that makes up half of my lawn has got to go! I want to make a good size garden out of most of it though!
Alee |
| PocketFarmgirl |
Posted - Jun 12 2007 : 12:40:50 PM
Well, April snow and finding someone to plow slowed me down, but it's finally starting to look like something out there! We've got a hundred strawberry plants in, some fruit trees, berry bushes and grapevines, and the following are up and going:
Beans: Jacob's Cattle, Blue Lake Bush, Royal Burgundy Bush, True Red Cranberry, Orca, Tiger Eye, Rattlesnake Snap
Leeks
Basil
(a very few peas)
Gold Nugget Squash
Penna. Dutch Crookneck Squash
Gourds
Melons (Moon and Stars...just put Emerald Gem seed in today)
Corn (Rainbow Dent and Japanese Hull-less popcorn...we'll see)
Red Pontiac Potatoes
Mesclun lettuce blend (gotta watch the bugs, though)
I've got flats and flats of all kinds of tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, and huckleberries that got late starts and aren't ready to go out yet...but we're getting there! I'm putting in cukes, zukes, yellow crookneck and some more winter squash tonight, as well as some basil and cilantro. Then I'm going to cram still more winter squash, tomatillos, and any other seed I've got left into every available cranny. I've got zinnias going around the margins, to attract pollinators.
You would not believe how many weeks I spent agonizing that nothing was going to work. No rain, cold snaps, drama. We have volunteer rhubarb, spearmint, and chives, tons of wild blackberries, and at least one big apple tree that's fruiting...and tons of flowers, wild and cultivated, everywhere. It's like a treasure hunt all the time.
Tons of slugs, quack grass, ferns, and other runner-propagating pests. A few run-ins with deer, but nothing too bad yet. BUT, we also have lots of pollinators, toads, and some helpful snakes, all of whom I'm encouraging to stay by making rock gardens (read: piles of rocks) as I dig them out of the field.
I'm sure trellising is the next hurdle, with all the beans and tomatoes I've got in or going in.
So cool to read about everyone else's progress! |
| JudyBlueEyes |
Posted - Jun 11 2007 : 10:41:55 AM
Well, I wish it would get a little warmer here, so things would start happening in my garden! We had one week of 80-90 degrees, and last week and this it's in the 60-70s. But my seeds are coming up, the pole beans, corn and pumpkin, as well as sunflowers from Miz Frannie and Sweet Annie too, and the salad burnet, chervil and caraway seeds I planted. the plants I put in are all hanging in there, wishing for some warmth! I heard one of the gardening shows on the radio and he said "don't plant tomatoes until it is reliably 50 degrees or more at night" - well, heck, I still wouldn't have my maters in the ground! And I sure don't have a greenhouse yet! Well, I am sure when everything starts coming on, I will be singing another tune. It is just the spring impatience hitting me right now...you know, you plant it and then you want to eat it the next week :-) Good Gardening, everyone! Judy
We come from the earth, we go back to the earth, and in between, we garden! |
| Alee |
Posted - Jun 11 2007 : 10:16:44 AM
Oh Zuchinni sounds amazing right about now! I must be vitamin deprived... each time I log on and read "Garden Gate" I get hungry! LOL
Alee |
| asnedecor |
Posted - Jun 11 2007 : 07:00:11 AM
Some of the sunflowers and Aunt Jenny's holyhocks are startingto peak through and I noticed yesterday the cucumbers and zuchinni are starting to sprout to. So everything I have planted is growing - I always have a sense of worry those first few weeks after putting the vegetable garden in if anything is going to come up and grow or if it all is just not going to happen. I am always surprised when thing do come up. Strange I know.
Anne in Portland
"Weeds are flowers too, once you get to know them" Eyeore from Winnie the Pooh
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| MariaAZ |
Posted - Jun 08 2007 : 08:57:51 AM
Anne, what a wonderful garden! Rhubarb and all those berries! I wish we could grow those here.
Visit my blog at www.craftyfool.net |
| asnedecor |
Posted - Jun 08 2007 : 06:52:59 AM
My blue lake pole beans are just starting to come up. My little tomatoes are finally established and look like they are starting to grow. My onions are doing good and so is the head lettuce. I also did some weeding and found I had some butterleaf lettuce volunteers so I am letting them grow too. Potatoes are doing their thing too. Pull Rhurbarb last weekend - oh my god huge amount. Cleaned it and cut it up and froze part of it and gave a big bunch to a freind that has a restaurant for them to make pies out of. I have gotten a few little strawberries off of my few plants. Blueberries will be turning blue soon and the raspberries and marion berries are all done flowering and are starting to develop berries. So things are just starting to hum along. Still waiting to see if the zuchinni and cucumbers are going to come up along with sunflowers and some of Aunt Jenny's red hollyhocks. When things are up a bit more I will have to post pictures.
Anne in Portland
"Weeds are flowers too, once you get to know them" Eyeore from Winnie the Pooh
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| MariaAZ |
Posted - Jun 07 2007 : 3:48:19 PM
If we lived closer, Alee & Lisa, I'd be more than happy to share the bounty! Mom's been sharing with the neighbor, but these 6 bushes are so productive that I think I'm going to make ketchup! When I was a little girl, I remember Mom making ketchup one year. I didn't care for it in the beginning because it didn't taste like storebought, but once the commercial stuff was gone, Mom didn't buy anymore. Being the ketchup lover I was (ketchup sandwiches... hard to believe I ate 'em but I loved them back then!) I grit my teeth and forced down the homemade stuff.
Then a funny thing happened; it started tasting GOOD. By the time the homemade stuff was gone, I was begging Mom to make more. Unfortunately, it was the only batch she ever made. I think 35+ years is long enough between batches ;)
Visit my blog at www.craftyfool.net |
| lisamarie508 |
Posted - Jun 07 2007 : 12:39:01 PM
MariaAZ, I'm so jealous. My tomatoes are just pea sized at this point. I'm with Alee; my mouth is watering just looking at them!
my blog: http://lisamariesbasketry.blogspot.com/
We come from Nature, we go back to Nature; health & happiness in between requires intimacy with Nature. |
| Huckelberrywine |
Posted - Jun 07 2007 : 07:17:43 AM
So fun to see and hear what all of you are doing. I don't know what all is involved in starting up a local farmer's market, but since coming here, it is calling to be done. New project coming on... I know we're all distant, but it does feel like a farmer's market at this post. So friendly, so interesting, very enjoyable!
We make a difference. |
| Alee |
Posted - Jun 06 2007 : 4:03:22 PM
Oh my! Those tomatoes look so yummy! Tomatoes in the store just never seem to have that great color! You can tell that those are homegrown! Yum! My mouth is watering just thinking about them!
Alee |
| MariaAZ |
Posted - Jun 06 2007 : 3:35:33 PM
I posted a photo of our recent tomato harvest on my blog. The garden is starting to show signs of heat stress, but the tomatoes are giving it their all. This is the first time we've had birds eating the tomatoes though!
Visit my blog at www.craftyfool.net |
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