Weekly Gardening Thread
Posted on 08/20/2010 5:15:36 AM PDT by Red_Devil 232
Good morning gardeners. Freeper tubebender submitted a request yesterday afternoon via FreepMail that we make one of our threads about the garden magazines, books and web sites we peruse to further our quest for the perfect Zucchini???
It is a great idea. How about we also add seed catalogs and where we get our recipes to the list also.
Here a just a few web sites that I like to go to regularly:
Mississippi State University Extension Service
National Gardening Association
Pick Your Own - Also Info On Canning, Freezing and Recipes
finegardening.com Pruning Tomatoes
Weekly Gardening Thread
I hope all of you will stop by.
This is typically a low volume ping list. Once a week for the thread and every once in a while for other FR threads posted that might be of interest.
If you would like to be added to or removed from the list please let me know by FreepMail or by posting to me.
Good morning! Just for the record, that university you cited should be spelled MississiPi!
War Eagle!
Having said all that, y’all have great cheese.
The weather here, although still in the upper 80s and 90s, feels distinctly autumnal. I’ve noticed some trees are dropping leaves and the pines are shedding some needles. Big sigh.
OTOH, my susanquas and camillas have buds on them and my encore azaleas are going strong.
Here is where I’ve gotten my heirloom seeds -
http://www.seedsavers.org/
http://www.tomatofest.com/
I’m in my second year with heirlooms - the original seeds were “so so” but the ones I saved and planted this year really did well - especially tomatoes - I planted Cherokee Purple and Brandywine. I’ve put up probably 50 quarts of tomato sauce (mmmm)
Fall garden is planted, rest of what’s left of the garden is weeded, and the remaineder tilled. Hopefully we’ll get a good fall and I’ll get some greens and roots to root cellar for winter.
If I’m really lucky, the melons I got in late will mature into a late fall surprise.
Well, Red...now I’m gonna get my fanny all beat up on another thread.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2574215/posts
It’s always something.
:)
later
Fall garden went in last weekend. Chard, spinach, mustard, arugula, mesclun, radishes and onions. The greens have already germinated in these hot days.
Holding out on one roma tomato that has been a major producer this year and several peppers that have taken off since they are no longer shaded by tomatillos and squash.
Garden site: www.walterreeves.com aka the Ga gardener He also has a show on WSB AM 750 on Saturday mornings that can be heard online.
Recipes: www.egullet.org
I have a question hopefully you can answer. If you purchase heirloom seeds, do you have to plant them that year OR can they be saved for several year?
Great links, thanks!!
I’m still learning all this myself (so maybe someone with more experience can chime in) - I have planted heirloom seeds that were two years old (those were stored in basement cabinets - in jars with silicon packets to help keep them dry). They were good - not as many germinated but the ones that did were fine.
I did have some heirlooms stored in the freezer that I planted last year and they never germinated. I won’t ever store seeds in the freezer again after that.
If you have harvested them correctly, you can save them for another year, however:
Make sure you have “cured” them the proper way and/or processed them properly. If you are unsure, post here and we’ll try to figure out what’s going on.
In any event:
Seeds should be dry and not moist. Moist seeds won’t work.
Glass and not plastic is how you store seeds. Plastic is porous. Glass is not. Save old glass jars, wash them and rinse with bleach water, including the lids. It is not necessary that they are canning jars. Old spaghetti sauce or pickle jars are just fine. (have you noticed that glass jars are disappearing from store shelves? I have. Save yours.)
Glassine envelopes (you can Google it) are perfect for seed storing, after they’re dried. You can fit many of these into a glass jar.
The glass jar with your seeds belongs in your fridge. Mark the type and year of the seeds on the envelope.
Morning all,
Really need to get a fall garden here, but it’s been so hot and dry every thing is dying....can’t even keep it watered....
ANy suggestions?
OTOH I’m the ony one around with great tomatoes thanks to the “old” saw dust mulch
Great point!
Remember, testing seed germination rates is easy:
Take ten seeds, wrap them in a moist paper towel in a plastic sandwich bag, and put it on top of your fridge (it generates a bit of warmth). Check it after ten days.
If only 4 of ten seeds are spouting, your germination rate is 40%. If 10 of ten seeds are sprouting....
I’D GET BUSY IF I WERE YOU!
:)
How often are you watering?
When I was attending MSU they also had a winery - potent stuff! Now they only produce and sell juices.
Have stopped as it was just cooking the plants. Those that weren’t water have deeper roots and are doing fine. Those that were watered died.
Need to know if it’s possible to “start” a garden in this heat?
Way back when, Auburn had a dairy which made wonderful ice cream. I would ride my bike there and cage a bowl or two off the churns after they packed all they could. It was amazing.
I may try to clean out all the old plants that are nearly dead this weekend.
Yes, you can ‘start’ your fall garden. Go ahead.
I’m glad you stopped your watering. It wasn’t ‘cooking’ the plants though, you were killing them with kindness because you are too nice!
We gardeners have to conquer the urge we have to ‘baby’ our plants. They not only don’t need it, but (sometimes like kids in our family) they don’t appreciate it! I’m from Ohio, whose soil is a lot like Indiana soil. Lots of clay. Clay holds water. It is a neverending struggle to deal with clay soil. At the end of your gardening year, consider a cover crop, which will help. Go nuts on adding organic matter; it’s almost impossible to add too much, especially if you live in the midwest.
Btw, if you are tempted to add sand:
IF YOU HAVE CLAY SOIL, DO NOT ADD SAND. SAND & CLAY is the recipe for creating BRICK. That is exactly how it is made. Don’t import it into your garden.
Your plants need ONE inch of rain a week, in most cases. No more. Don’t employ any watering techniques that involve watering every day unless you are growing rice or celery. Roots need to dry out or they will suffocate and die. This is the exact reason why plants that are watered will die (100% of the time) from dehydration.
If I were trying a fall garden in Indiana, I’d get rid of a bit of the clay soil and substitute compost/peat for drainage and overall good plant health. If you decide to include peas, be sure to plow under the foliage after harvest to enrich your soil.
Good luck!
Btw, if anyone around here is wondering why I am acting like such a watering know-it-all:
1. I spent most of my life in the midwest. I have killed more plants with water than anyone on this entire planet. I’ve killed trees, shrubs, vegetables, flowers, and about 400 4” pots of lavender. I figure about $ 25,000 worth or so. That’s conservative.
2. My OSU Master Gardener classes straightened me out. I lot of what I thought was right was wrong.
3. Now, I live in the desert. No one understands watering here, either. They don’t understand plants much, either. But that’s for another day. LOL
Less is more.
So far, I put up about 10 quarts and spent last weekend making and freezing eggplant parm, eggplant rollentine and lasagna rolls. That's where all my sauce went!
I will be canning every weekend until the "maters" run out!
It has been hot here also. The last week and a half all those popcorn showers that hads previously always by-passed my garden decided to stop by and drench the place. Lots of rain water in short afternoon deluges. They drop the temps by 20 degrees or more, which is good but, I don’t need any more rain for a while. It only got up to 85 yesterday.
Holy Cow! 50 quarts!
I love your knowledge and most of all I love your ability to convey it to us the way you do and this is from someone who has been tending a garden for over 70 years and has forgotten more than I ever knew...
I saved seeds from the tomatoes grown from an 'Olde Italian Red Pear' plant that I purchased last year (I rarely buy plants, but this was pitched as 'great for salsa'). The tomatoes from the plants grown from the saved seeds are bigger than the originals...huge, softball-size Italian tomatoes. Not only do they make for great salsa; they are being roasted for a very tasty sauce, as well. Yum.
Well, it is August and we usually have 100+ days for weeks on end. We have had 15 days straight with triple digits. There were a few decent showers about 30 - 40 miles east of Austin on Wednesday. We got a few drops on the windshield while driving home.
That, my friend, is the nicest thing said to me.
Somewhere, my MG professor is smiling. I’d tell you his name but suddenly I’m unable to read my monitor. It’s all messed up...kinda blurry, you know?
:)
My tomatoes and basil are still going strong. I am growing some luffa gourd (also known as Chinese okra). I finally got my first one last week. I am planning on planting some spinach, pak choi, and lettuce this week for my fall garden. I may also try and get a second crop of green beans, although that may be pushing it.
My favorite site for seeds:
Also, here are some recipes geared for the garden ... there are several pages of entries. It is a blog, so if that’s not your thing, just ignore:
http://www.seedgirl.com/go/blog/cat/recipes/
My young bride has a memory of a elephant (and the shape of a gazelle in case she reads this) and reminds me every year that I am doing something wrong in the garden. Gardening here in the lower end of the Coastal Pacific NW has it’s challenges and this year is really bad as we haven’t seen much sunshine. I wonder if my problems with my strawberries is too much water? I will dig a couple today and inspect their roots...
Hey doodad..I just put my fall garden in today. Patty Pan squash, lots of beets, turnips, and chard. I have never grown nor tasted swiss chard, but alot of the gardening freepers seem to have grown it so thought I would give it a try.
I was in Wal-Mart yesterday morning and they had turned one aisle and numerous end caps in their garden center into huge supplies of Ball Mason jars. Quarts, pints, half pints and smaller squat jam jars. Also loads of other canning supplies from lids and rings to Ball freezing containers to pressure and hot water canners to packets of seasonings to pectin.
Diana, they also had Mrs. Wages Pickling and Tomato Mixes.
I think you will like it as long as you like greens. They have a taste all their own. I grew up with it and like it just gently wilted either saute or boil. Salt and pepper.
I wish I had more time to grow, but we are closing the garden early this year to work on combating our blight issue in the soil.
Your young and lovely bride is probably right; you are doing something wrong in the garden. :)
Welcome to the Club! Come right in, sit right down. Would you prefer tea or coffee? LOL
We’re ALL doing something wrong in the garden. heh Including with, and starting with me. NO gardener gets it right all the time. Period. I worked once for a lady with a PhD in Horticulture and it was not unusual for her to get me or a co-worker to identify a plant. No one knows everything.
My first instincts on your strawberries are the lack of full, hot sun. You may need to choose a variety that appreciates your geography. It’s possible (if you ordered plants from a national source) that you ordered plants that are only nominally successful where you live. I’d look into that. The other thing is, that make sure your strawberries are not planted too deep, which they don’t like.
Do yourself a favor and Google:
(Your State/County) + Cooperative Extension Service + Strawberries
You’ll get your answer. :)
I’d call you a suck-up but only ‘cause you said it before I could. Wisdom is gained by years of experience and should be heeded more often.
My FRiend, autumn is in the air in Central Oregon. The burning bushes are tinged w/red and the 33 degree low this morning tells me the summer has passed by too quickly.
We are going to try a fall garden here not so much for produce but because we love the smell of freshly turned soil and the peace and serenity of planting hope and promises in fertile ground. Gardening of all kinds ranks right up there with warm & wet dog kisses and trust me, dog kisses are at the top of the list.
However, I gave away all my canning equipment about 20 years ago, so I had to go our and invest in new stuff. I was up until past midnight last night canning salsa (according to Mrs. Wages). I had mostly small (including large cherry size) tomatoes left, so it took a considerable amount of time to scald, core, and peel them. Here is the result:
There was a little bit of salsa left over, so I got to taste it. It is really good. Unfortunately, 2 of the jars did not seal properly, so I am reprocessing them. Maybe I tested them too soon, or maybe the jars were too full and bubbled up under the seal. I don't know, but I'm reprocessing. Any suggestions would be appreciated. The directions said to wait 24 hours before checking the seal, so I am waiting to check the other 3 jars until tonight.
Don’t forget to include:
“your state/county + Cooperative Extension Service”
That is the best locally tailored advice you will get. And your tax dollars have paid for it!
Go for it.
Your soil is still warm, despite the 33 degree morning.
I don’t remember you saying it was OK to call me a suck up, but I’m a peaceful lady. :)
Plant some sweet pea flower seeds, btw. You can thank me in the spring.
-Old spaghetti sauce or pickle jars are just fine. (have you noticed that glass jars are disappearing from store shelves? I have. Save yours.) -
Hi Daisy :)
Speaking of glass jars, I have been using them for leftovers for the last few years. I save every one I can, all sizes, and use them for storing everything in the kitchen. Saves on plastic crappy things and whatever might be leaching from them.
And yes, they are getting harder to find. Can you imagine selling a set of 10 glass Ragu jars on eBay for $50 in the future! :)
Copied to my garden notes. I just looked at the doc containing my garden notes (all gleaned from advice here) and it says that it is now 124 pages! Methingks I should spend the winter reorganizing them into chapters so that I can find things when I need them! LOL. Putting on my garden clothes now and turning OFF the automatic waterer.
Daisy: What advice (if any) do you have for “square foot” gardeners on frequency of watering? Of course we are not gardening in “native soil” and the beds are raised. Presumably the water drains off. I’ve just been setting an automatic sprinkler. With the added rain we’ve had this summer, that is WAY too much water. But, I’m afraid that it drains away too fast to follow your 1” per week guideline. What is a good compromise?
I did not water at all for almost a week and have noticed the the cucumbers are drying up and turning brown. Everything else looks fine, including the celery which is so large I’m afraid to harvest it! LOL. (The thigh high celery that ate Milwaukee.) LOL
YES!!! And when I give one to someone (with flowers, or basil in it) I NEVER get the jar back. Of course, I don't ask for it, but that may change.
I have grown Tri-Star day neutral strawberries for the past 4 years with new starts every year or two. These plants are two years old and I suspect that is also part of my problem. I buy them from a small local nursery who gets her stock from Oregon. These are a small sweet berry deep red all the way through. I buy most of my seeds from Territorial Seed in Oregon for what little I grow these days. I will do some research as you suggested...
Trivia: As I was out one day exploring the new neighborhood, I noticed a sign that had the Ball logo on it, out front of a factory looking building complex. Apparently, that is where they make some of the jars or lids and rings. A local connection to the canning industry!
It is feeling like fall here in the Colorado Rockies. The cottonwood trees in the creek beds are beginning to turn yellow. The aspens have not started to change yet. I may try a fall planting of collard greens and mustard greens. The spring planting of mustard greens just bolted.
What can I say, we LOVE our sauce :)
I used to try and can everything, I gave up on pickles (we only do fridge pickles now, in gallon glass jars. My mainstays now is corn, green beans, tomatoes.
We have a bumper crop of chili peppers and bell peppers - I need to find a good way to preserve those
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