Weekly Gardening Thread – 2011 (Vol. 24) June 24

Free Republic | 06-24-2011 | Red_Devil 232

[Red_Devil 232]

Good morning gardeners. Well this past week brought a respite from the sunny hot weather here in Mississippi. We received two days of beneficial rains, which helped to revive my garden. Watching the radar it looked like a good portion of south-central Texas from San Antonio to the northeast corner received some rain also. I hope it was helpful to our gardeners over that way. My winter squash are growing like mad and my hot and sweet peppers are doing great. What is left of my tomatoes seem to have revived a bit during these rainy and cloudy days. I really hope that what ever weather you have had improved a bit for you and your gardens this past week.

If you are a gardener or you are just starting out and are in need of advice or just encouragement please feel free to join in and enjoy the friendly discussion. Our Freeper community is full of gardeners, each with varying interests and skill levels from Master Gardener to novice.

[JustaDumbBlonde]

The rain did much more good than I can say, for my garden and pea patch, as well as our row crops on the farm. We had been irrigating everything and you could have purchased a new SUV with the diesel fuel bill I paid last month.

[JustaDumbBlonde]

I can’t diagnose from your description, but I have my suspicions. When you post a photo, I’ll try to help.

[madamemayhem]

it’s cilantro. Yes, the leaves are flat and have a strong flavor for salsa. the seeds are know as coriander. They have a lemony flavor.

[Free Vulcan]

We missed some big storms last weekend and only got hit hard once. It's been dry for 3 days and garden should be looking good. Garden is holding up surprisingly well, got lots of work to do though.

Random pics!:

Blue Podded Capucinjers Pea. Soup pea with nice looking flowers and unique colored pods)

Golden Sweet Pea. Fresh/soup pea with yellow pods (more yellow than looks in the pic).

Left to right: Hulless Oats, Awnless Barley, Glenn Spring Wheat, and Winter Rye. Montana Winter Wheat just out of the pic, which the deer got. And yes, weeds.

Je.rusalem Artichokes.

Bumblebee on some sweet clover.

Honeybee hanging off an alfalfa flower.

A black-winged, blue bodies dragonfly which I've never seen around here before.

[goodnesswins]

How do you “help your tomatoe flowers put out more fruit?” With an electric toothbrush? (That’s what a local tomato farmer around here told me to do for better pollination.)

[Hoodat]

Critters are eating my tomatoes off the vine. The affected tomatoes are at ground level and inside cages. They were cut with precision as if someone took a knife and sliced off a slab. There lots of chipmunks and rabbits in my yard. I suspect it is chipmunks since rabbits can't get inside the cages.

Does anyone have any recommendations? I am fixing to go to the nursery to get some blood meal, but we are now hitting a spell of thunderstorms every day (praise God), so I don't know how long the blood meal will last.

Come to find out, chipmunks are a protected species here in Georgia, so I can't shoot them.

[ConservativeOrBust]

Just my two cents; I would stick with it. I put my first in-the-ground garden in this year. I have use of one of those big 6 foot heavy duty tillers I put on my tractor. I could not believe the amount of rocks that came up. I went through with a wheelbarrow and to out anything fist size or larger. Must have been 8 loads. I went ahead and planted. Now when I till between the rows, I take a 5 gallon bucket and take out the smaller rocks. It will probably take two to three years to get almost all of them out but it will be worth it in the end. If you live in an area with kids, you could always bribe them with money to form a picket line and go through your garden tossing out the rocks. My back wishes I had that option.

[tillacum]

I used coriander for years in sweet dough for chala etc and didn’t know the plant was cilantro until I came to Texas. lol.

[tillacum]

What a grand idea, this fall I’ll put one on a pole, tie strings to it and let the peas climb up and around. It would work well with a bushy ramabling rose. Thanks for the idea. Now I can go nuts with the wheels.

[tillacum]

I did do that with a dowl, just give little love pats. This a.m. I sprayed the flowers with bloom set. I even sprayed some on hubby’s okra.

[tubebender]

I’ll have to get back to you on the plant dates of the potatoes. (old timers disease)

[Tatze]

I think your tomato plant is telling you that it has had to much water. The leaves will turn/curl under trying to expose as much of the leaf to the air in an attempt to expel water vapor.

I think this may be the case in two tomatoes I have in 16 inch pots. The pots must not be draining very well. It looks like these two have leaves that are curling upwards. I think I'll drill a few holes around the bottom. The drainage designed into the pots is probably not doing its job very well. I've got sunflowers in other pots of the same size. I'll drill those too.

[tubebender]

That is rice hulls from the Sacramento valley area and is a new trial for the strawberries this year. I have used it on my winter garlic patch for years as it suppresses the weeds and it seems to be doing the same thing for the berries..

[afraidfortherepublic]

I’m just curious about the effect of the weather on the growth between our two locales. I am amazed at how fast my garden has grown, considering I got such a late start. You are ahead of me, but you may have planted sooner.

Are your Yukon Golds bigger than your Red La Sodas?

[tubebender]

I use some I” welded wire bent to form a triangle (A Frame) to protect the seedlings from the Quail and birds wandering through the garden. I’ll post another photo latter of the cages that protect our strawberries from various critters. Gotta run...

[afraidfortherepublic]

Mine are curling (actually more like bendng) downwards. THe edges of the upper leaves are folding under. I’ll post pictures later.

[Betis70]

Glorious garden.

Where do you get your grains (wheat, oats, barley, etc)? I’ve never tried growing them, but since I am experimenting with heirloom corn this year for the first time, I might as well try them sometime in the future as well.

[afraidfortherepublic]

I’ve noticed you use a lot of wire over some of your produce. To keep out critters and birds?

No, he told us last year that is to keep out his first wife -- the blueberry thief. But, I think he was just pulling our chains. His first wife is his only wife, and she bakes him pies, and other delicacies, with those blueberries. But, that has got to be the most magnificent cage I've ever seen.

[Library Lady]

Our cabbage must have been good. We have a very fat rabbit to prove it.

[greeneyes]

Thanks for the thread RD. We have had a lot of rain this past week in Missouri. Hubby got his wheat harvested and sitting on the back patio to dry.

Unfortunately, we then had a deluge of late night - early morning rains almost daily, followed by sunny afternoons. Guess we’ll see how it goes this week.

Beds 1 and 2 are doing well. I still have some onions and lettuce from the winter garden, that will be harvested this weekend. Hubby is starting to get some produce from his spring plantings (mostly beans). His strawberry patch is finished for now.

I have harvested one bed of red winter wheat, and have one left. I have planted corn in the newest raised bed. (Hubby has one bed left to finish). Haven’t decided yet what I will plant in the 2 beds after my wheat is all harvested.

I have to dash out to a charity function/health fair, but will be back later to read what everyone has been doing. Have a great weekend everyone. God bless you all with the weather you need for your gardens.