Weekly Gardening Thread – 2011 (Vol. 44) November 11

Free Republic | 11-11-2011 | Red_Devil 232

[Red_Devil 232]

Good morning gardeners. Remembering Veterans Day. Here is a big Thank You to all who have served our Country. Just wondering how many of you gardeners are Veterans?

It is a Chilly 29 F here in East Central Mississippi. I have been trying to keep up with the leaves falling off the trees and I am hating the pine needles more and more everyday. I don’t use them in my compost pile because they take to long to break down. I pile them by the roadside and the county comes by once a week and vacuums them up.

I hope all your Fall gardens are prospering.

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]

I have a 2 acre thicket of black locust that I cut fence posts from because the wood does not rot. They send out a lateral shallow root from which little trees sprout. It is almost impossible to contain them. Once they get going they grow very quickly. I do absolutely nothing to care for them. The blossoms in the spring are intoxicating.

The mimosa grow very quickly and my honeybees love them. They are semi-difficult to contain and do best on the bank of a pond or a low spot that holds some moisture. They will grow away from water, but a bit more slowly. The wood is very green and flexible, so they tend not to break in storms. I do nothing to care for them except trimming low limbs to encourage them to 'umbrella'.

I have only 1 catalpa tree. It is kind of an oddity, so I keep it. I don't do anything to care for it. It is close to my garden and has never caused a problem that I am aware of.

[MrB]

Thanks for the info.

Sounds like the black locust needs to be on a property boundary or in a fence row.

One thing you might not know about the mimosa (lead tree, luecaena) is that it is a nitrogen fixer, which is why I wanted to use it. I have seen videos (Backyardfoodproduction.com) where they plant the mimoso between the rows in their garden to act as fertilizer. You can also cut the trees back to nearly nothing before winter, and till the organic matter into the soil, or feed the leaves & pods to rabbits.

[JustaDumbBlonde]

LOL, yeah, we had a clump of mimosa trees in a side yard when I was a kid. My dad would practically whack them down to stumps every year and we were climbing them again the next year. We loved them particularly for the flexibility ... you could hang on the limbs or ride them like a bucking pony. :)

[MrB]

I’m looking into an “alternative revenue stream”, and these things with their flexibility and their fast growth fit right in.

Hint: It drains money/wealth from green minded liberals.

[tubebender]

I love all home grown tomatoes but Eureka (Benderville) Ca has to be the worst climate in the US to grow them. We have COOL damp summers that lead to every tomato disease know to mankind, however there are areas in Humboldt county where they do grow and we buy those at the twice weekly Farmers Markets during the season.

[satan69]

SOUTH FL GARDEN PIC’S UPDATE

http://img833.imageshack.us/img833/5702/1000272m.jpg

http://img155.imageshack.us/img155/2140/1000270a.jpg

http://img193.imageshack.us/img193/3232/1000269gb.jpg

http://img853.imageshack.us/img853/5933/1000268y.jpg

http://img43.imageshack.us/img43/2424/1000267e.jpg

http://img411.imageshack.us/img411/2564/1000266e.jpg

http://img197.imageshack.us/img197/2936/1000264h.jpg

[satan69]

Have you tried growing Super Steaks or some of the new VFN brands?

[satan69]

HINT: My mother used to lock them in the closet for a week beforehand... Seemed to force them into bloom

[tubebender]

The next sound you hear will be the late T. Bender leaping off the tail gate of his Silverado...

[who knows what evil?]

Just received my FIRST 2012 seed catalog (Pinetree) in the mail...am I first???

[tubebender]

NO...

[who knows what evil?]

Really? Who else is shipping catalogs already?

[tubebender]

We have 5 so far. HPS... Thompson Morgan... White Flower Farm... Pine Tree and Stokes

[who knows what evil?]

Wow...

[tubebender]

I listed them in the order we received them. We generally get 12 or 15 and Lady Bender gets very familiar with all of them before she orders our seeds...

[greeneyes]

For inexpensive Open Pollinated tomato seeds, don't forget this link. I can't remember who provided this information on this thread over a year ago, but it's worth mentioning again, I think.

www.wintersown.org

They have a big selection of tomatoes with descriptions. Click on the “your choice tomato SASE. You can select 6 varieties for free-just pay the postage. You can select more seeds with a donation.

They also have instructions for saving seeds, and sowing seeds in the winter. They have other seeds available in addition to tomatoes. A very interesting web-site.

[Red_Devil 232]

Thanks for the link.

I found this guy on the side of my storage shed this morning:

Stick Insect Five inch long body

[JustaDumbBlonde]

Did you ‘splain to him that he is not well camoflauged on the white shed? :)

[JustaDumbBlonde]

Yikes! I have TEN extra geese this morning, and I’m wondering if some of the youngins have brought home mates, or if there is a strange group that is just visiting. I don’t NEED 42 geese.

[tubebender]

Well I’ll trade you my two young bears that destroyed 3 bird feeders Tuesday evening. My wife heard a noise near the front of the house and called me to check it out so I grabbed a flashlight instead of a camera and stepped out on the entry porch to find the two of them not 10 feet from me. They both looked at me like I was a intruder. They have destroyed many neighborhood apple trees.