Weekly Gardening Thread
Posted on 10/16/2009 4:00:05 AM PDT by Red_Devil 232
Good morning to all of you gardeners. It looks like the rains have finally passed by my area at least for the next week. October is typically one of the driest months here in Mississippi but we have had rain from 4 to 16 inches above normal. It will take a couple of days for my garden area to dry out before I can get in there and clean up a little more and then till in my compost.
Weekly Gardening Thread
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Thanks for your post. How nice to see something on FR that doesn’t set my hair on fire.
Gardening is pretty much done here in southern Michigan. I am looking forward to getting a very early start in the new greenhouse in the spring.
I took a trip down to hidden lake gardens the other day for some fall color pictures but I was a few days early and may go back this weekend.
http://s736.photobucket.com/albums/xx2/Snappler_2009/hidden%20lake%20garden/?albumview=grid
Good morning!
It’s also raining here in Virginia, like we haven’t had enough.
Great Photo’s!! thanks for sharing.
Most of my garden clean up is done, just waiting for leaves to fall, that is a twice a week ordeal with the shredder/bagger ... I get a fine 2” deep ground leave mulch layer on all my perrenial beds. The annual beds are already seeded with buckwheat for winter.
The only thing I leave standing are the plants that the birds can use for cover/food. Achillee, Skyscraper sunflowers, Ornamental Sorghum and of course the sedum. Amzing how many birds I attract duriong winter.
Great year for giant sunflower. One single bed with a hundred plants, all over 9ft tall with heads that are a good 4-5 pounds. I’ve learned if you plant them tightly in mass, they support themselves.
I do most of my composting by trench .. as I still have room for more perrenial beds. I have two serpentine trenches 30” x 60’ that are layered and back filled totally now. gives a nice berm about 12” tall ... two inchs of ground up leaves in the next 3 weeks will finsih them off so will be ready to take divisions next spring. I prefer dividing in fall, gets a better root start, but I never have enough time to get to everything. I do select divisions in fall and leave the rest to early spring.
Hard to believe winter is coming. I’ve got the cold frames cleaned and set up with salad fixin’s .. normally I can go well into December ... however, we are colder these past 3 weeks than what we saw in early November the las few years. Not uncommon for us to be in shirt sleeves Halloween eve. Already in sweatshirts now .. must be Algorz glaobal warming eh?
later ... this gardner needs a break ...
Yeah the rain! My wife has been wanting to have a yard sale. She has had everything ready for over a month but each weekend she decides to hold the sale the rains come. It really looks like a go this weekend! Today I will have to use the fencing that is around my garden to close off the back yard to keep the dogs out of the front yard sale area.
Hidden Lake Gardens is about 60 miles west of Detroit on M50 (Monroe pike) near Techumseh.
Its $3 per car. You can drive through nearly all of it plus they have a greenhouse with tropical, desert, and temperate areas. They also have a smale Bonsai garden.
Thanks, we will plan on visiting the gardens.
The few tomato plants I had are almost dead from all the rain we've had the past few months. Burned up all summer and flooded now.
Rain and 40-50 degree nights here, but I’m still getting some green peppers, tomatoes, and a little okra....makes for good hot vegetable soup for cold days.
I am going into this winter/fall with a brand new toy — a 12x12 greenhouse hubby built for me.
I have most of my big potted plants and hanging baskets in there now. It will be heated with a two burner wood cookstove I bought at a garage sale. Lots of shelving, and is high enough to hang all my hanging pots where I can walk under them. The floor is made of pebbles.
I have electricity in there, but have to drag the waterhose there to water, which is probably going to be a pain this winter.
Also have lettuce and green onions up in my outside raised beds. I was walking past an older home near my Mother’s house this summer and some guys were remodeling it, pulling out the old windows. I asked if I could buy them and they said I could have them to haul them off. So I have about 20 windows now to play around with cold framing.
The greenhouse is a new thing for me, so any suggestions/ideas would be appreciated. Like everything in life, it will be a learning experience. Just hope I can keep all my beautiful flowers alive in there till next spring, and start some veggies for next year’s garden.
Gorgeous photos! That Photobucket is a very nice ap. Love it! :)
I’m done. Everything is harvested (just did the winter squash last week) with the exception of my brussels sprouts...getting sweeter by the day! Cooked down the last of the Concords last night; saving that lovely juice for wine. Three jugs in the basement that are nearing completion, then I’ll start some more. ;)
We’ve had miserable, rainy, COLD weather. We’re to hit 60 by Sunday (big whoop!) but we’re running 10-20 degrees colder than normal. Not fun. When they change the clocks that first week of November, it’s going to be brutal. Grrrrrrr.
We’re having a big sale at work these days, so I’m selling a lot of pretty maple trees and the fall-colored shrubs (viburnum, dogwood, burning bushes, hydrangea, etc.) pumpkins, squash and corn stalks and bales of hay for fall decor.
We’ll close up shop the end of the month, then get set up for the cut Christmas Trees and all the other holiday greenery. I really do like that part of our season. :)
Read a few books my Eliot Coleman. He gardens year-round in Maine in cold frames.
Have fun! :)
I will be eagerly watching for those suggestions/ideas as well.
If it ever stops raining long enough for the ground to dry up even a little bit, hubby has promised to redo the floor in the "greenhouse" and fix the huge gash in the roof.
We are FINALLY cooling off here in central Texas and getting some rain. We are something like 20 inches behind normal for the past 24 months.
My garden is drowning now, but I really don’t care. This drought rivals the mid - late 50s drought / dust bowl. I’ll take the rain and buy veggies.
Sounds like here, but we're not going to see 60 again (or the sun for that matter) until at least the middle of next week. We hit the high for the day (53) at about 7 this morning, it's downhill from there.
Cooked down the last of the Concords last night; saving that lovely juice for wine. Three jugs in the basement that are nearing completion, then I’ll start some more. ;)
I've got 2 jugs in the pantry, which should be done in a week or so. I'm planning on starting a new one tomorrow or Sunday --- or as soon as I finish what wine is left in the jug I need to use :) We liked the apple so much, that is what I'm going to do this weekend. Hubby's chomping at the bit for the others to be ready, he's dying to find out how the cranberry turns out.
“a brand new toy — a 12x12 greenhouse hubby built for me”
Do you loan our your hubby :) I have always wanted a greenhouse...sigh..... and yes, I am green with jealousy :)
Not sure if this is of interest, but I bought an outdoor sink, made of plastic, at the local hardware and my son-in-law fastened it to their house (my daughter is my gardening buddy) right above the garden hose outlet. I not only hooked up the sink but created a real Rube Goldberg watering system using hoses and soakers. Just an idea regarding water in your wonderful greenhouse.
We finally had a nice, steady rain here in So. CA. We are pretty much on schedule, with our winter veges planted.
Next project is to clean out all the small dead branches inside the canopy of the orange tree. Seems to be a nice crop of oranges and lemons coming on.
Pumpkins are going to be ready for carving on time. This week we plant our big bowl of narcissis so that they are in full bloom for the Hanukkah dining table.
I’ve never used a greenhouse in the winter but did for the first time last spring. I LOVE having a greenhouse!
Someone told me I would want one twice as big once I figured out how to use it properly. I already want one twice as big. You’re going to love it. Course mine is only 6 x 8 or so, one of those pop up ones but it’s great, holds moisture so well (runs up to 98% humidity). Oh, get a good thermometer with a humidity reading. I came out several times and all my little seedlings were bent over from the heat! It doesn’t take long to get too hot and I’m at work during the day so I’ve had a few scares but they managed to recover. The hardest thing was regulating the temperature.
AM buiding a 6X10 lean-to one now. Just got the rock for the floor delivered yesterday and hope to finish it up in the next week or so.
I planted typical winter veggies a week or two ago.
I can’t believe it!
Everything came up. Now, if I can just keep the slugs away...
Oh, and I’ve still got lots of tomatoes & carrots. I get enough carrots to last about a week and I’ve been bringing green tomatoes in to ripen.
Everything else has been done for a couple of months though.
You have been blessed with beautiful scenery! Our leaves here in Virginia Beach won’t hit their peak for about a month. I have lost the gardening spot in the sun which a neighbor had generously let me use for tomatoes, cukes and other veggies. The neighbor is moving to his own home. Have discovered the Swiss Chard, Chinese cabbage, spinach, and collards are doing well in partial sun and have already harvested some of their outer leaves.
Have to go to the library today for Mom (lots of flu cases here and she can’t get out with her weakened immune system) and I’ll see if I can get that book. Thanks.
The early cold spell caught most of the desiduous trees by surprise up here in the Colorado Rockies. Only a few aspens in my yard had begun to change color when the temperature got down to 7F. The aspens now have dead black leaves clinging to the branches.
Even though we're practically neighbors, that Bay thing seems to make a difference in the peaks. Here in northern Accomack ours have really been starting to change, I'm thinking peak may hit in about another 2 weeks or so. Especially if the temps stay as low as they are right now.
How did your pop-up greenhouse hold up in storms? I was looking at some on eBay and the seller had added a warning about not leaving them up. HEELLLOOO? That’s what they’re FOR.
Those peach tomatoes sound really cool!!!
I’ll be watching your trials and successes, hoosiermama,trying to learn all I can. I’m sure I’ll make mistakes, but like I said this is a learning experience.
I have about $800 in mine. My brother provided labor, the stove from the yard sale, and some contributed cement blocks to house the stove, etc. I looked at ordering these from greenhouse supply places, and would have cost me several thousand to get what I have.
I have it full of plants, already wishing I had a bigger one. I’ve started lots of spider plants (airplane plants for you, Diana LOL).
Actually started about 10 of them from my BIG one last spring. Now they are full sized with babies (the sprouts that become new plants). Lowes and Food City sells these (the same size as mine) for $15 in the spring, so I figure I can go to the local flea market and sell 10, 15 of them, along with the huge wandering jews and other hanging pots. Hoping my greenhouse pays for itself soon.
I’d LOVE to hear the details of this watering system. That is my biggest concern. Last spring I had one of those miniature (Home Depot) greenhouses on wheels. Everything sprouted up quickly, etc., then when I’d water the tender sprouts (with a Windex bottle) it knocked them over and killed them. I couldn’t find anything with a fine enough mist.
So, trying to figure out how to create a watering system that mists. Of course, hubby has put the foot down on installing plumbing, so for now it’s watering by hand and with a hose. Since I live in the mountains of Tennessee, and think we are facing a harsh coming winter, it will be mostly by hand.
Am going to try to get some pics of it shortly and post them on here.
WOW, I love the container with the Dusty Miller and Dichondra. I love making mixed hanging and container plants, and give them as gifts.
A little red flowering plant added to that mixture would be gorgeous.
This was the first year I grew them and was amazed! I eat them whole.
Thanks. Yes, it does need an accent color. I have a bad habit of growing one color per pot.
Next year. First we had late freeze that killed the ealy (& most mid-season) apple buds; then we had an early freeze that has left the late apples hanging on the trees as brown bags of goo, among the dead leaves.
The early frost also did in the plums, chokecherries, apricots, and wild gooseberries.
Ouch. I’m so sorry to hear that.
This was my first foray into wine making and so I followed the recipe to a T. It called for a 12 ounce can of frozen unsweetened apple juice concentrate.
I have not yet been adventurous enough to make it from homemade juice.
Can you post that recipe? What kind of container do you use?
now I am curious about homemade apple wine. I did a quick websearch and found many differant recipes and info. Can anyone direct me to a website that you have followed with good results, or, any fav recipes or tips?
Oh yeah, that’s another thing about a greenhouse. Expect all your friends and family asking you to start plants for them. You also do houseplants which I don’t but just starting seedlings last year, I was giving away to friends/family, they were bringing seed for me to start. Course I enjoy being out there so that was fine with me.
One friend had a garage sale and had so many people asking for the tomato plants I gave her, she ended up selling them! I think I’ll grow lots of extra this year and sell when they have their annual garage sale.
I use 4 liter wine jugs.
* 1/4 ounce active dry yeast
* 4 cups sugar (less sugar makes a drier wine)
* 12 ounces frozen juice concentrate, any flavor except citrus, thawed
* 3 1/2 quarts cold water
* 1 Balloon
Combine the yeast, sugar and juice concentrate in a sterile gallon jug. Fill the jug the rest of the way with cold water. Shake jug to mix ingredients.
Rinse out a balloon, and fit it over the opening of the jug. Poke one small needle hole in balloon. Secure the balloon with a rubber band.
Place jug in a cool dark place. Within a day you will notice the balloon starting to expand. As the sugar turns to alcohol, the gasses released will fill up the balloon. When the balloon is deflated back to size; the wine is ready to drink. It takes about 6 weeks.
Be sure to siphon off the top and/or strain through a coffee filter. You DO NOT want to drink the residue in the bottom of the gallon jug.
You’ll have to ask Diana about balloon size because I didn’t use one. We used some tubing, taped into the top of the jug with the end of the tube in a bottle of water.
A friend who owns a deli is going to save me the gallon pickle jugs they usually throw away when empty. Hubby is going to make the tubing attachment permanent on those.
We tied mine down very well, it came with all the tie down stuff and believe me, we had tons of storms this spring and it held up like a charm.
One advantage might have been it was a bit sheltered because I had one side against the house. I remember one night the wind was so bad, I thought, it’s going to be in the next county. Nope, it was perfectly fine. I’ve been very pleased with it and yes, I took it down after I got rid of all my seedlings. It’s being stored in the shed for the winter.
See my other post (47 I think)
I love that arrangement as well! I was going to steal it and copy for this spring! I never was a big fan of dusty miller but it looks great there. That is...if I can find the trailing plant, I’m not familiar with it.
I think it would look well both ways, I love just the silver but could see where red would also add impact.
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