Posted on 04/19/2013 1:07:02 PM PDT by greeneyes
The Weekly Gardening Thread is a weekly gathering of folks that love soil, seeds and plants of all kinds. From complete newbies that are looking to start that first potted plant, to gardeners with some acreage, to Master Gardener level and beyond, we would love to hear from you.
This thread is non-political, although you will find that most here are conservative folks. No matter what, you won’t be flamed and the only dumb question is the one that isn’t asked.
It is impossible to hijack the Weekly Gardening Thread ... there is no telling where it will go and that is part of the fun and interest. Jump in and join us!
Uh oh. Prayers up!
I have been doing some research on that, but I am only so far as looking at the zoning laws. I did run across a website that might be useful:
http://www.motherearthnews.com/Sustainable-Farming/Raising-Backyard-Chickens.aspx#axzz2QOf2q1pt
http://thecitychicken.com/hhotm.html
The city chickens has lots more info for beginners.
Where did you get earthbox juniors? I hadv’t seen or heard of them before.
That’s exciting. Hubby just finished planting 50 Ozark Beauties. We are still waiting on the other kind.
I hate that we have to pick off the blooms this year according to the directions.
The junior is basically half the size of the standard unit. I plant herbs in them since many of those are cooler weather plants and I can bring them inside in the heat of summer. I also use their automatic watering system on the standard boxes.
From this point on, I am looking into getting my planting media (these are soil-less if you didn't know), fertilizer and dolomite (calcium/magnesium) locally from now on. They publish a list of approved products.
Way to much rain for one week in Central Missouri made a terrible mess of things all over the place. On the bright side, I have seedlings peeking out of the soil in my garden. Hope to find time over the weekend to beat the woods for some wild morels.
Ok, thanks for the link.
My spinach planted last fall has once again survived the winter and is growing great. Picked up some vinegar for spot weed killing. Planning to pick up some lettuce and other plants tomorrow if they’re available.
I share your opinion of the rain, however, I’ll just knock on wood, cause I don’t want the drought to start early. LOL
I am thinking about growing some mushrooms at my house. Next to my basement (canning) kitchen door. I put in a small garden plot size about 4x4 ft. It was intended as an herb and lettuce garden. Hubby had stated that he was going to cut the tree that shades the area the most.
Well, he didn’t, and so far, nothing has grown there. I did have a golden alexander which lasted for 2 years before giving it up. Any way, I am still trying to come up with a way to use the area. Mushrooms is all I can think of.
I love when my spinach and lettuce lasts through the winter to spring. Last year, I did not plant enough, or else we ate more, because it all ran out before spring.
I have planted some more indoors and outdoors. The indoor romaine still has some leaves left, but the spinach is only seedling size - it took forever to germinate for some reason.
Last week the outdoor lettuce planted in top soil had sprouted, the mushroom compost only had one or two sprouts and the mixture of garden soil, top soil, and mushroom compost hadn’t even started. They are all under the row cover because of the cool temps, so I won’t be looking at them till tommorrow when the weather is nicer.
I FOUND TWO TINY TOMATOES ON A ROMA TOMATO PLANT! I thought they had to grow much bigger before that happened however it has blooms all over. Another Roma has some blooms and the ones I planted later look like blooms are about to happen.
Look, I was going to plant everything in pots so I got general purpose potting soil with food to last 9 months already in it. Now, I'm putting seeds in the ground and I don't have good fancy soil to add to the ground dirt, but I've got three bags of the general purpose potting soil.
I did not tell the seeds what I was going to use. I put the general purpose in the planting space, then put in the seed or seeds, then put more general purpose over the seeds to the depth required on the envelope. Then, I told the seeds they had really good food to grow in. Then, I watered them.
If potting soil works in a pot, why wouldn't it work in a hole in the ground which would be a holding vessel the same as a pot?
Potting soil does work in a hole in the ground, most of the time anyway. I don’t like digging holes. That’s why I went with raised beds.
I just covered the existing bare ground with cardboard and newspaper and dumped the bags of soil on the top. Then, I planted my stuff. Each year I add some compost and organic stuff to the soil, or else I plant winter cover crop to turn under and replace the nutrients.
“dumped the bags of soil on the top”
What kind of soil is that?
I have a cover guaranteed for life over all the ground in my garden except where the roses bushes were. Holes were cut in that cover to plant the roses. So, the rest of the garden is covered with that cover and there is mulch over that cover. You’re saying I can just put soil over that cover and start the growing that way. That is an absolute winner that I didn’t think about. What kind of soil do you use for that?
In my case, the cover was put there to keep grass and weeds from growing.
I’m up here in MA so winter lettuce would be impossible although I never thought to try doing it indoors.
I planted some peanuts last year (seeds were picked up from amazon.com) . They grew like crazy and every seed sprouted and they took over the entire area in a tangled mess.
Oh yeah the reason I mention this - make sure you get the bush type and not the vine kind (it was worse than pumpkins lol)
The bush type are easier to harvest too .
As a last resort if you can’t find them anywhere check on amazon.com
What’s normal cherry blossom time?
I am up in Alaska and my wife is taking care of the garden down in California. She says everything is blooming except the cherry trees. We had a bumper crop last year; are the trees going to take a year off to recover? :-)
Hi all. Nothing new to report this week for now. Enjoying this thread as usual, though. :)
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