Posted on 05/19/2018 9:48:45 AM 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. Planting, Harvest to Table(recipes)preserving, good living - there is no telling where it will go and... that is part of the fun and interest. Jump in and join us!
NOTE: This is a once a week ping list. We do post to the thread during the week. Links to related articles and discussions which might be of interest are welcomed any time-and don't have to be about gardening.
Beautiful pictures!
Hi greeneyes! Thanks for the ping! Hello everyone! Wishing all gardeners well!
This year for us is another low-garden activity year for us. We were delighted to see our parsley overwinter and come back. The wisteria and irises and lilies are gorgeous this year - black berries blooming. We cut down some diseased trees and are missing the shade.
I have been using the “boxed” lettuce with all the little roots attached. I’ve not ever been completely successful with lettuce, and was throwing them away, but Darlin’ suggested I should just go ahead and plant the root stubs, so I did. We’ll see. It’s an experiment.
Last fall I set out some straw bales to overwinter so I could try an experiment with straw bale gardening. Not sure what I’ll plant in them, but surely something will occur to me!
Our local weather went from VERY cold to SUMMER overnight practically! Late starting, and will try to limit the care-giving amount. [It’s hard to do that, once you get going!]
LEGUMES. Beans, peas, cover crops such as hairy vetch clover and rye are all good helpers for soil, and compost should be added as well.
It is important to rotate heavy feeders such as tomatoes - every 3 years min. This helps fight diseases, and the soil depletion from planting the same thing year after year.
I rotate my plantings through Legumes, Leaves, Fruits, Roots.
Legumes help with the nitrogen, Leaves such as lettuce need high nitrogen. Fruits/Veggies such a tomatoes will not do well if nitrogen is too overpowering-need a bit more P,K in the ratio to N. Roots.
After the roots, I use one of the spaces for compost heap, which is added to other beds when the compost is ready and it’s time to plant.
In the fall, I plant legume cover crops to help restore the soil. The beds get a big addition from the compost heap before spring planting.
An addition of a compost and maybe even some peat moss might help before the legumes.
Another thing I do with the smaller containers that I use for plants, after the final harvest, I add the soil in them to the compost container to help with that, and then use it next spring.
Hope that helps.
Glad to hear from you on the GThread. Carrots is the thing I can’t seem to get going. Lettuce is ok. I’ll be interested to see how the experiment works.
We had 1 ripe strawberry yesterday - hubby gave it to be-he’s so nice-I was in need of nice. LOL
I am in full herb mode. My dill has gone bonkers. Thank goodness I love dill. My basil is growing wide rather than high. I am thinking of moving it. Seeing sights of life in the sunflower bed and am getting ready for my second spinach harvest. Between that and the arugula I got from the community garden, I am good for greens for the week.
I need to buy some dill to transplant. I never can get the seed to do well.
Are there any vegetables that have problems with too much calcium?
I.E. ... can I keep tossing my eggshells in the garden, to be worked into the soil at my convenience?
Thanks for the feedback.
We will probably try your system.
In addition to beans or peas, I’d suggest adding some clean charcoal, compost, and a mycorhizal inoculant. That combination will help plants “mine” the soil more easily.
I would only be guessing, because I don’t know. It could be that calcium uptake is limited by the ratio of other nutrients and wouldn’t matter. On the other hand, it might interfere with other necessary nutrients.
I’m gonna shoot for melons and okra after the election on Tuesday. We set 2 heat records this week, was over 100 yesterday. And after really good spring rains while getting those weekend record freezes in April, that drought seems to have hit. The kids up on the Oklahoma state line have gotten 2 good rains this week but we’ve been dry a month now.
Normally I’d have multiple rain barrels still full but my mother-in-law thought she’d help by watering plants in pots while i was out of town. I had given them a good soaking and made them ready for 7 days without water. M-I-L emptied 2 - 55 gallon barrels and half another to water them. Came home to half my potted things dead. She thought they looked like they were dying and I had abandoned them so she watered more and more. Husband had a written schedule for lemon tree and 3 others, he couldn’t figure out why they weren’t drying out and at least knew to not water more. So, I’ve been in recovery mode for the things that actually lived :(
To destroy the caterpillars try Bacillus thuringiensis also called B.T.
It is effective and used by organic gardeners.
See http://ipm.ifas.ufl.edu/pdfs/100_years_of_bt.pdf
Good garden stores carry it.
Thanks!
“Square Foot Gardening” is a good book about how to wring a lot of planting seeds out of small plots.
Ah yes, killing the plants with kindness - overwatering. Been there done that - all my life. Finally figured it out when I started the sq. ft. garden. Almost impossible to overwater, but regular soil - dead as doornails.
Yes it is. And planting that close together helps keep the weeds down - so I don’t have to break my back weeding. LOL
And we now have lightning and thunder and wind. Rain no doubt will soon be here.
If the calcium is in solid form like eggshells, it should be fine for most plants. With acid-loving plants like blueberries there might be a problem, because the eggshells would bring the soil PH toward the neutral range, but that would be the only problem.
When I did a quick search just now, there was only one plant that seems to have problems with excess calcium, and it wasn’t tomatoes.
(It was one of those plants that, if you’re growing it, I’d rather not know!)
So, more eggshells! Whee!!!
I learned years ago that if I water well, count my days and leave a small calender my husband does quite well. He loves the fresh fruits and veggies and I leave soakers and hoses in place so it takes no more than 5-10 min every 4-5 days. Raised beds, good healthy soil and mulch really make for conservative watering. Having a really tough time convincing his mom to leave it all be. She’s 81, never in her life had a garden and just clueless but trying to help. Asking nicely for her to leave the plants alone still isn’t working, she thinks the answer to all must be more water. I am slowly moving my more valued plants to an area where she can’t get to. I put some difficult to kill things out front for her to entertain. Ivy, airplane plants, mints, basil, all in well draining pots with no saucers or hanging.
“Does anyone use Diatomaceous earth also known as D.E., diatomite in their garden? Will it keep the stink bugs and giant green caterpillars away? If not, what will?”
works fantastic to kill tomato hornworms (giant green caterpillars) and other soft-bodies insects, not so sure about it’s effect on hard-shelled insects, though ...
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