Posted on 04/20/2012 10:06:22 AM PDT by JustaDumbBlonde
Good morning to my FRiends, fellow gardeners, future gardeners, and lurkers! It is beautiful and sunny today here in NELA. We received 2-1/2 inches of rain earlier in the week and it is still very wet in the yard and garden.
I've been keeping busy with my bee yard ... I got called about a swarm day-before-yesterday, about 25 miles south of my house. I still had all of my bee catching equipment in my truck from doing a hive cutout last weekend, so off I went. Below is a photo of the swarm when I got there, and the latest photo of my bee yard with the newest hives on the right-hand side.
It is my hope that everybody is getting the weather they need, and none of what they don't. Check-in and let everybody know what you're up to in your neck of the woods.
The Weekly Gardening Thread is a weekly gathering of folks that love soil, seeds and plants of all kinds. From complete newbies that are looking to start that first potted plant, to gardeners with some acreage, to Master Gardener level and beyond, we would love to hear from you.
This thread is non-political, although you will find that most here are conservative folks. No matter what, you won’t be flamed and the only dumb question is the one that isn’t asked.
It is impossible to hijack the Weekly Gardening Thread ... there is no telling where it will go and that is part of the fun and interest. Jump in and join us!
Weekly Gardening Thread (Catalog Fever) Vol. 1 Jan 6, 2012
Weekly Gardening Thread (Seeds) Vol. 2, January 13, 2012
Weekly Gardening Thread Vol. 3, January 20, 2012
Weekly Gardening Thread (U.S. Hardiness Zones) Supplemental Vol. 1
Weekly Gardening Thread (Soil Types) Vol. 4, January 27, 2012
Weekly Gardening Thread (Vacation) Vol. 5, February 03, 2012
Weekly Gardening Thread (Vacation) Vol. 6, February 10, 2012
Weekly Gardening Thread (Vacation?) Vol. 7, February 17, 2012
Weekly Gardening Thread (Home Sweet Home) Vol. 8, February 24, 2012
Weekly Gardening Thread (Soil Structure Part 1) Vol. 9, March 2, 2012
Weekly Gardening Thread (Transplanting Tomatoes) Vol. 10, March 9, 2012
Weekly Gardening Thread (Useful Links) Vol. 11, March 16, 2012
Weekly Gardening Thread -- Vol. 12, March 23, 2012
Weekly Gardening Thread -- Vol. 13, March 31, 2012
Weekly Gardening Thread (Happy Easter!) Vol. 14, April 6, 2012
Weekly Gardening Thread Vol. 15, April 13, 2012
in the NW we've had rain and temps haven't gotten up there yet....still cool....but this weekend we might hit 70....
question for whoever knows....can I plant potatoes in 5 gallon buckets?.....I've got a lot of buckets and I prefer to keep my garden beds for other things....thx in advance..
This morning, Mark has undergone open heart surgery at Mayo in Rochester, Mn., to have a mitral valve replacement. He just got out of surgery and everything went fine, but I ask that anyone so inclined please pray for a full recovery.
Thank you with all of my heart!
Yes. Potatoes do very well in buckets. Be sure to put holes in the bottom for drainage. They also sell cloth bags for potato planting that work well too. You can move them around in your flower beds to fill in bare spots.
Yes.
Thank you for the compliment on the yard. We are blessed with a beautiful homestead.
Good afternoon! You have a beautiful property there, and all the pictures and talk of bee keeping is making my wife want to start a bee keeping activity here.
Nice slow steady rains in my area, NETX, a little thunder in the distance.
Woohoo! We just had about half an hour of a small rain.
The garden is covered in weeds - still. Can’t seem to get ahead of them this year. Did get most of the weeds out of the front door flower bed and see that there are finally some caladiums coming up. The glads are getting buds but the lillies are just sitting there not growing. Sunflowers are up by the side garden but don’t see any marigolds by the sole tomato over there.
Back to the garden, I’ve been lazy this week and still haven’t put out cantaloupe. Also, need to reseed some kohl rabi - never tried it before. Must get off my butt! Must also get the cuke out of the greens. It has flowers on it as do the green beans. Have been sharing the lettuces.
Put out some more bird feeders and so the birds are happy, too. There’s one dove who’s so chubby, he just walks around the yard.
Do you know anything about “Bee Pods?” My wife is “suggesting” that I build a few.
Beautiful property!
Have fun with the bees. I love honey but someone else can harvest it. I don’t like bees and they don’t like me. Last time I was stung my foot swelled up the size of a watermelon.
Prayers.
We have planted raspberry bush, honey berry, goji berry, and re-potted some tomatoes. Work continues on perennial bed. I have pots of lavender, french tarragon, stevia, and rosemary in waiting to plant.
All the fruit trees, bushes, and Rosa rugosa are doing well. The grapes and kiwis are the only plants that got devestated by the recent frost.
Have a great weekend. God Bless.
Slight frustration here. [sigh]
March was wonderful, lots of sun, nice & warm. Even had a week+ in the 80's! Now it is highs in the 40's and 50's, and night time lows just above frost.
I have been preparing the garden raised beds by weeding, adding sulfur, adding mushroom compost, and adding "water crystals" to cut down on the water bill.
The seeds I started in the greenhouse box are mostly doing well. Most are 5" to 6" high. Except the sweet peppers. Those are 1" or less. Maybe they just take longer to sprout.
Petruchia
Am near Elgin, IL not far at all.
Started a Bay tree in a container last week. My new raised beds are really appreciating the rain. Thinned out my tomato seedings, had two or 3 in each large cell. Seems like a heck of a waste. Wanted to make sure I had enough though.
Peppers are coming along a bit slower, but will likely thin them next week.
Dave
How are the raised beds coming along?
Broke out the unopened box with the “4 tier greenhouse” we bought at last fall’s garden close-out.
Oops! “instructions are just a picture & parts list. Oops! 4 out of 12 shelf supports are missing.
At least there’s an email & toll-free number.
Planting our onion starts (not sets) & couple of other odds & ends later today. Have some things starting in newspaper pots for transplanting end of May.
Asparagus came up , looking great, but frosted when clouds unexpectedly went away over night & temp dropped an extra 8-10 degrees. Can’t trust a 24 hour forecast, but 50-100 year predictions of “climate change” are absolutely trustworthy?
Follow up on the ‘replanted celery’: leafed out great, looked good, so potted it last week. The top continued to grow. Yesterday, it had started to wilt, so I checked it, and NO ROOTS! It seems it was just ‘living’ off of the nutrients in the base, which is now used up.
April check in from Florida...
Heavenly coconut scented plumeria
Itty bitty bunch grapes--will ripen in June
Too many baby avocados on the young tree
So, how do you find the Queen under that lump of bees in the top of a tree?
Or is that how you disperse a hive? Do you use some pheromone?
Five gallon buckets should easily get you a crop of tomatoes. I had good results with cherry tomatoes on those hanging bags and they hold less soil than a 5 gallon bucket.
Geez, I see “Potato” and my brain says “Tomato”
Disregard previous post...LOL!!!
First time trying to post pics here, so, hopefully they show ok. This is my 4 y.o. bamboo patch. There are 5 different varieties of cold-hardy running bamboo, all of them phyllostachys types.
[IMG]http://i1186.photobucket.com/albums/z366/pitviper1968/SpectabilisApril2012.jpg[/IMG]
http://i1186.photobucket.com/albums/z366/pitviper1968/BambooApril2012.jpg
Can I pose, um, a reaaly dumb question?
Ah-hem. Should I plant the victory garden over the septic field, or not?
I have trees!!!!! My mail-carrier earned their pay today, there were 4 big packages on our doorstep. Woohoo!!!!!
The predicted April cool-down took out most of my “gamble” plantings. I knew they were a risk, but those warm days in February and March were just too much to resist. More cold weather expected, so I’m starting a few more seeds indoors for now.
Yesterday I had to have a talk with my chiropractor. (My neck is misaligned in such a way that if I don’t get regular adjustments I start having dizzy spells so bad I can’t even talk straight.) Well, my insurance suddenly decided they weren’t going to cover chiropractic care anymore, so we had to discuss payment options. He said that because my adjustments were so vital, he wasn’t going to charge me for that visit, and that if the insurance keeps refusing to pay, he’d be willing to let me pay with stuff from my garden!!! I’ll be taking him some homemade pickles and jams next week.
Do you mean top-bar hives? If so, those are nice. I built a couple a few years ago, although they got hit by colony collapse. I built mine with hinged lids and anchored them to posts in the ground. It was nice being able to tend the hive without any heavy lifting.
Thanks for the info...that will be music to my wife’s ears. I’ve got to go to the lumberyard, thanks again :{)
Nice bamboo! Can I ask where you’re located? And, have you had trouble with the bamboo trying to spread where it’s not wanted?
I’ve tried to grow clumping bamboo a few times, but it always dies on me.
I have enjoyed following your gardening adventures and have learned much from all of you, but it is time to CSMO, so again, farewell!
I heard we might get some frost tonight(4/20)in our area (central Mo.). Have you heard that too?
Thanks! I’m in Lincoln, Nebraska, somewheres on the Zone 4/5 area. And yes, with running bamboo, it’s VERY invasive. The trench around it needs to be re-dug this Spring, but it’s purpose is to chop of the spreading rhizomes, to prevent it from going where I don’t want. Some of mine grew 15 feet underground one season.
I’m hoping some of it gets to 12-15 feet tall this year. I love it, but lot’s of folks think I’m nuts :-)
Gregg
Need some advice on an idea I had.
The situation:
I own 5 acres, but the only part flat enough to be worth gardening right now is a narrow strip, right at the top of a very tall, steep hill, bordering a neighboring dairy farmer’s cornfield. Anything used in the garden must be hauled up backpacker-style, and it’s a long enough walk from the car that anything that gets forgotten, stays in the car. I’m not strong enough to make that trip twice in the same hour. Some days, I’m not strong enough to make that trip once. The land was abandoned for 15 years before I bought it, so the weeds are thick and well established. Hacking a garden space out of those weeds is an uphill battle in more ways than one. To make it even more interesting, I usually am only able to get out there once every couple of months, although I hope that this year will be different. (I’ve been saying that for the last 4 years.) Oh, and the soil has such a high clay content that you could stick your hand in after a rainstorm, and make pottery out of it.
My idea was, what if I dug a 4’x8’ area about as deep as a kiddie pool, only rectangular, and after making sure that erosion-control measures were in place, asked that nice farmer to fill it with fresh manure from his dairy operation, then after it was full covered it with landscape fabric and let sit until next spring? My theory is that that would provide a nice fertile garden bed, with the fabric keeping the weeds from sprouting. But I get the impression I’m missing the obvious. any suggestions?
Gorgeous pictures!
I DON’T DO FLOWERS, but planted bleeding hearts and tiger lilies earlier this week and my husband just headed back to the lumber yard for more timbers for the bed out front that we put in around the buoy when we first moved in. Forget the pick axe, we were digging the old “timbers” out by the handful. We decided to raise it instead of sinking it and we decided it needed a third row of timber. Then off to the supplier for a load of topsoil to fill it, so I can plant the rest of the bulbs I’ve got. I want to do it before the rains come in tomorrow night. Oh and somewhere in between I do need to pick up the small person from the after school dance.
Going good my tomatoes are about 10 inches high and looking healthy. I may scatter a few Basil plants among them.
Of course I will keep Mark in my prayers.
Glad your garden is going well.
Ours need stakes which I was supposed to do last weekend, but didn't. Tomorrow...
We had a good rain this morning and it let up for a few hours and is raining again - a nice steady and slow rain. It may pickup shortly to a heavy hard rain.
I think that phrase is now my middle name :-(
Totally Rad. Uber cool.
I gardened last year at the mini-farm.. mostly green beans and kale
Would have been more but the rabbits ate all my kole crops.
The remaining kale over wintered like a champ...had fresh greens all winter.
My main crop was rocks.
I sifted about a ton of earth last year and barely made a dent.
Yesterday, I had a single axle dump truck full of compost and top soil delivered.
Spent hours leveling it by hand..
It’s a wonder that I can move at all today.
I plan on expanding the garden as I have compostable product to make my own this year.
Totally Rad. Uber cool.
I gardened last year at the mini-farm.. mostly green beans and kale
Would have been more but the rabbits ate all my kole crops.
The remaining kale over wintered like a champ...had fresh greens all winter.
My main crop was rocks.
I sifted about a ton of earth last year and barely made a dent.
Yesterday, I had a single axle dump truck full of compost and top soil delivered.
Spent hours leveling it by hand..
It’s a wonder that I can move at all today.
I plan on expanding the garden as I have compostable product to make my own this year.
Prayers lifted
I had a discussion a few weeks ago with a former horticulture teacher from a local college that advised if planting in clay to dig out your garden area six or eight in deep, then take an auger and drill as deep as possible and as many as possible holes and fill the holes with small rock for good drainage. Then fill the bed in with good soil. Idea is to get drainage, rather than planting a garden is a clay bowl. I am just a novice myself, repeating what I have been told. YMMV
Now that is what is known as a SCORE!!!!!!!
So sorry to hear about you neck issues and the problems with the insurance company, but it seems that you have a peach for a chiropractor!
Barter, what a terrific solution.
(And anyone else with raised bed experience.)
I’ve never really done this before and need help. We just redid the “bed” around our boat buoy and didn’t sink the timbers, instead going for a raised type.
Here is my question - It is 7’ x 7’ and 1 foot deep — how much soil do I need to fill it????
(And anyone else with raised bed experience.)
I’ve never really done this before and need help. We just redid the “bed” around our boat buoy and didn’t sink the timbers, instead going for a raised type.
Here is my question - It is 7’ x 7’ and 1 foot deep — how much soil do I need to fill it????
49 Cubit feet.
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