Weekly Gardening Thread – 2009 Vol.2 – May 22

FreeRepublic | 5-22-2009 | Red_Devil 232

[Red_Devil 232]

This is the second edition of the 2009 Weekly Gardening Thread. If you are a gardener or an aspiring gardener please stop in from time to time during the next week and share your experiences. Last weeks thread was a great success. Thanks to all who participated!

[Petronski]

The potatoes are started in 3” of soil in the bucket, as the plant grows every 3” I cover it up with compost until the bucket can't hold any more.

Try that method with stacks of old tires.

[SunkenCiv]

I left the Red Hubbard plants (thanks go to Horrock's for stocking them!!!) in the clear plastic bag (designed for cut flowers, but anyway) and that has both protected them and kept them perfectly moist (I helped) -- and they have boomed in there. Got to get them transplanted this long weekend.

[SunkenCiv]

Oh, and while at the health food store (don't ask what I was looking for, ya really don't wanna know) I nabbed a packet of Seeds of Change Oaxaca Tomato, a pink variety, for my country-dwelling sister.

[P8riot]

You’re most welcome. We do rabbits too. Cheaper to raise, easier to dress, and better for you than chicken. What kind of rabbits are you doing? We have Californians, but I am thinking about changing over to New Zealands.

[Carolinamom]

Please add me too, Red_Devil 232.

[Petronski]

I’m trying to find some rational way to pick between those two.

[P8riot]

Try that method with stacks of old tires.

Check out my post #93

[Petronski]

We do rabbits too. Cheaper to raise, easier to dress...

Easier to dress...

[P8riot]

We originally got the Californians because that is what they had at the feed store. They have done well for us, but they had several NZs in there last week and they told me that they were going to start carrying them as well.

[tillacum]

I’m a terrible gardener, in fact not one at all, but I keep on trying. Right now, I’m picking squash, radishes, lettuses and in a few days, peas.

[tillacum]

White bread, lettuce, tomatoes, salt & pepper, a large slice of Walla Walla Sweet onion, with a Root Beer, next door to heaven at lunch time.

[tillacum]

How do you do squash blossoms? I have a bunch and they look all male, very few female blooms. I’m no gardener, but the book says only the female blooms have a nubbin beneath the bloom and the male blooms form straight from the stalk.

[tillacum]

I like your tag and I like your wife’s attitude.

[tillacum]

What kind of a soap bath did you give your plants? I have that problem too, my egg plants have little holes in the leaves.

[Petronski]

I suspect my decision between the Calies and Kiwis will likewise be made for me, by chance.

In this ridiculously rural part of Penna, I’m bound to meet someone selling one or the other within a week or so of looking.

But it’s birds first around here: Cyborg wants free-range eggs so Cyborg gets free-range eggs. :O)

[tillacum]

I have that one too, and got it from WalMart.It’s growing in a TopsyTurvy.

[tillacum]

Please add me to the list.

CarolinaMom. My money plants are doing well.

[HiramQuick]

You can use any seed potato (never tried sweet potato .. to far north) but I only use yukon gold anymore. Delicious and not a “large” potato so they lend themselves well to bucket. However I have grown kennebecs as well .. they just don't get as large in the pails, but still tasty.

Reds are ideal, especially if you are after the “new” potatoes. (delicious) A hint, if you use compost and not soil you can reach “down in” and harvest young tender potatoes with out disturbing the plant.

Again .. I am not so much interested in the potato harvest as I am in the aesthetics of the plant in buckets for my perennial beds. The buckets are covered by vine and the texture of the plant is incredible and adds another dimension to my landscape.

[MtnClimber]

I only put out about half of what I started indoors when planting today. Just insurance policy against Ma Nature's indecision! The planting is not the hard part. Putting in fence posts in the rocky soil and putting up fence and doors is necessary before planting anything. The chipmunks are everywhere now! In the past the chipmunks ate big Easter cactus plants down to the dirt in the container!

The old compost area is 16X16 ft and very rich soil. I have about 2/3 of this planted with cold tolerant varieties. The new planned 20X20 area is partially fenced and fertile soil only in rows where I have dug down to 18 inches and screened out rocks and added in compost and bagged topsoil. I will only get about half of this area usable this year, and only in rows. The rest of the area will be my new compost area for yard leaves and kitchen scraps. I will gradually work material in and sift out rocks this summer and likely into next year too. I also planted three jumbo blueberry bushes, three Nanking cherry bushes, two different apple trees (about 6 ft) and have two butternut nut trees now in containers. Everything in the fruit and nut tree category is atleast zone 4 tolerant for winter temps, but I am trying for zone 3 and 2 varieties since my previous zone 4 trees got wiped out a few years ago.

[P8riot]

Thanks