[Red_Devil 232]

Weekly Gardening Thread

Weekly Gardening Thread

[Red_Devil 232]

Ping to the Weekly Gardening Ping List.

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[stefanbatory]

hello. the rain from late last week really helped the garden out tremendously. I think the tomato plant grew by 50% in that shower.

I’ve also started looking for water that isn’t chlorinated to water my plants with. I guess it ain’t good for them, huh? last night I filled my sprinkling can from the ditch in front of the house. That ought to be better for the plants. I’d like to get a rain barrel, but I’m hesitant to butcher my landlord’s downspout.

If they survive the winter, I’m gonna have tons of little tomato plants from the seeds I planted. Hope we have some global warming relative to last year...

[Bean Counter]

I’ve been working on compost this week, and it’s paying dividends already.

My compost bin is 8’ long, 4’ wide, and about 5 feet deep. It’s right next to the chicken coop and provides a handy way to dispose of what the chickens are done with. For the past 4 months I have been layering chicken poop into a 30 gallon trash can and covering it with wood ashes and cat letter. It’s stayed dry and doesn’t stink.

Last week I collected 2 large loads of shredded leaves and started layering leaves and dried chicken manure into the pile, and filled it to the top. I didn’t have to water it because we got plenty of rain.

The past two days I have been out there turning the pile with my mini roto tiller, and the pile is already up to 130 degrees! When I disturb it in any way it lets off an enormous plume of steam and heat. The chickens like to get up in there, peck around and sit in the warm compost on cold days. They also help mix the pile.

When I finished last week the bin was completely filled, and now that it has settled and started to compost it has compacted by about 1/3rd. I have plenty more leaves to gather and will probably add another foot or more of chopped leaves in the next week or two. The bottom line though, is that we will have several yards of finished compost to use come Spring.

[goodwithagun]

Day 5 of 60 degree, sunny days here in the Ohio Valley! I have one small garden lasagna composted and I’ll work on the other this weekend. I can’t wait to see the results next spring! I am greatly increasing what I plant next year. I usually just do a salsa garden. Next year will be potatoes (in containers, should be interesting), tomatoes, peas, carrots, onions, lettuce, peppers, and corn if I can make room for it.

[Bulwinkle]

Went to water this morningso I could do final clean up and light till this weekend and the damn hose was iced!

For thoses in the DC area, my garden is near Gallows and the Beltway. Oven night temps are often ~4 degrees cooler than the general area. When there is a tiny frost at my house, it is ground freeze at my garden.

[Bulwinkle]

For those who follow U.S. weather.. Drought Monitor... and scroll down and this is a 6 week and 12 week animation:

http://www.drought.unl.edu/dm/monitor.html

[trisham]

I’ve been raking and composting a lot of leaves. :)

[DollyCali]

BTW.. that is a clever & attractive opening graphic

[tubebender]

Reporting from the sunny beaches mud flats of Humboldt Bay Cal I fell that I have morphed into a Banana Slug as the weather has been lovely but nothing is getting done. The compost piles are still cooking at a 100 - 120 degrees but I had to put some Decon under the plywood covers to eliminate the rats and mice that had setup house keeping. The Oats and Bell Beans look beautiful and my Domestic Engineer says the Gardening Threads have reinvigorated me.

Our Ten day forecast...

[who knows what evil?]

Sooooo...who will be the FIRST on the ‘garden list’ to receive a 2011 Seed Catalog..? That ‘first sighting’ will help me get thru the cruel northern winter. :-)

[Free Vulcan]

Put the garden to bed this week and greased and sharpened the tools.

We’ve had 70’s all week here in Iowa. Record low is -2.

[greeneyes]

Good morning RD, thanks for the thread. Nice day here in Missouri. Current temp is 57 degrees on the way to 74 and expected low of 52. Not as sunny as it has been. Still no rain. Forecast is for scattered showers today. Perennials are very thirsty, and the rain barrels are empty.

Winter wheat is beautiful and green as Spring. Carrots, onions, and lettuce planted in mid fall in bed #1, are doing well. Bed #2 is almost totally finished. I picked the last Iroquois melon yesterday.

One Sugar baby melon is left and it looks like it might be done too, but I am waiting for Hubby to check it out and give his opinion. It is only a little larger than a softball, so it may not even be very good.

I have pulled most of the plantings and added to the compost heap. There are still 3 Cherry tomato plants with almost ripe tomatoes to go.

So far, the indoor garden is doing well. Tiny Tim tomato has several flowers and 2 green tomatoes, and getting bigger than I anticipated. Herbs and citrus tree still looking good.

Have a great weekend everyone. God Bless.

[Diana in Wisconsin]

The only garden-related thing I did today (cold & rainy day) was to throw my caved-in carved Halloweed pumpkin into the compost pile, LOL!

I have some lettuce and spinach to pick.

Possible snow tonight - and so it starts!

[tubebender]

This Toad Stool is growing across the street from our driveway. This one is about 4" across the cap...

It is a Amanita Muscaria and will make you very sick and kill you in a rare case...

[afraidfortherepublic]

For those with left over pumpkins:

Big Cats