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WEEKLY GARDEN THREAD VOLUME 1 JANUARY 4, 2013
Free Republic | Jan 4, 2013 | greeneyes

Posted on 01/04/2013 11:01:40 AM PST by greeneyes

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!


TOPICS: Gardening
KEYWORDS: agriculture; food; gardening; hobby
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To: AbolishCSEU
Upstate NY here. Cold and snowy but forcing tulip bulbs even as we speak. I have an Aerogarden which I’m growing cukes in. Will be starting the notoriously slow growing peppers and eggplants the end of the month. Loving all the garden mags!! Oh and will be the first year of asparagus to harvest in the Spring. (New Jersey Knight)

I just ordered all my garden stuff for the spring and decided to get some asparagus myself.

It's going in soon as possible, like June or so if it stops snowing by then.

But hey, it IS after Mother's Day. ;)

41 posted on 01/04/2013 1:18:08 PM PST by metmom ( For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore & do not submit again to a yoke of slavery)
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To: greeneyes
Anyone use one of these green houses? I picked one up at HD yesterday, onsale for $50. they had one set up and couldn't pass it up. The size 6x5x6.5 which seems a bit on the smaller side, but good enough to start my seeds early this year.


42 posted on 01/04/2013 1:19:53 PM PST by CJ Wolf
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To: greeneyes

Living in a 3rd floor flat, container gardening is all I have. Right now I have some cherry tomatoes in a couple of hanging baskets, and various peppers in various pots. Hopefully I’ll have some habaneros soon. Yes, with snow outside. Northern Colorado.


43 posted on 01/04/2013 1:27:40 PM PST by real saxophonist (I show my friends my 1911. I show my enemies my Glock.)
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To: hummingbird
"I grow heirlooms to avoid GMO’s."

How do you do this? GMOs really spook me.


In the seed description, watch for terms like "heirloom" or "open-pollinated", some will also have stories in the description, like with Mortgage Lifter tomatoes, which were developed in the 1930's by a man desperate not to lose his house.

The majority of hybrids are *not* GMO, but if you save your own seed it's a bit of a gamble, because the characeristics aren't stable beyond the first generation. So, a plant from a hybrid tomato seed will match what it says on the packet, but seeds saved from that plant might be different. If you're just thinking about saving your own seed from year to year, it would probably be best to start with heirlooms. They're more reliable.

Be aware that most corn is contaminated with GMO genes, even if the seed producer didn't intend it. That's because corn is one of the most popular GMO plants, and the pollen can travel for miles, getting to plants several fields away. If you want to try an heirloom corn, check to make sure it's been tested for the presence of GMO's first.
44 posted on 01/04/2013 1:31:52 PM PST by Ellendra (http://www.ustrendy.com/ellendra-nauriel/portfolio/18423/concealed-couture/)
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To: greeneyes; Black Agnes

Here’s a link from Black Agnes regarding catnip:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2974976/posts


45 posted on 01/04/2013 1:37:39 PM PST by greeneyes (Moderation in defense of your country is NO virtue. Let Freedom Ring.)
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To: Ellendra

I like the sugar baby watermelon and minnesota midget cantaloupe.

Both are open pollinated varieties that have been around a long time, and have produced pretty well, though not last year with the heat and drought.


46 posted on 01/04/2013 1:41:19 PM PST by greeneyes (Moderation in defense of your country is NO virtue. Let Freedom Ring.)
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To: CJ Wolf

Sometimes small fits. I’ll bet a hundred watt bulb or two could go a long way to heating enough at night to maybe even grow stuff in the winter too.

I’d probably put that door right up to the door to my house so I wouldn’t have to go out in the cold, and give it a go. LOL.


47 posted on 01/04/2013 1:44:58 PM PST by greeneyes (Moderation in defense of your country is NO virtue. Let Freedom Ring.)
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To: greeneyes
Thanks, that mix sounds like Mel's mix if my memory is working right.

I used whatever potting soil that my wife had when I stepped them up to 4" pots. Now I regret that. I guess I will have to mix my own now. I hear that if you ever start mixing your own, you can never go back to ready made potting mix.

48 posted on 01/04/2013 1:46:54 PM PST by rightly_dividing (Left behind; 4 Americans in Libya)
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To: real saxophonist

Do you use grow lights, or do you have a decent window or two?


49 posted on 01/04/2013 1:48:22 PM PST by greeneyes (Moderation in defense of your country is NO virtue. Let Freedom Ring.)
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To: hummingbird
Another non GMO seed company is Southern Exposure Seed Exchange.

Southern Exposure Seed Exchange

I got 3 varieties of non GMO corn, 2 for my chickens and 1 for us humans. One of the varieties, Jellicorse, supposedly sets ears in extreme heat temps.

Another good company that sells hybrids and open pollinated varieties but NOT GMO stuff is Johnny's Seeds.

Johnny's Seeds

A lot of the hybrids that Johnny's does sell are ones they've developed in house. They're your grandmother's hybrids. All the tomato hybrids parents were tomato plants. All the pepper hybrids parents were peppers. And so forth. There are other similar companies such as Territorial Seed.

We're going to try to grow chicken feed this year. I've got the corn seed from Southern Exposure (Jellicorse and Texas Gourdseed), some grain sorghum varieties, and some millet ordered from R. H. Shumway.

Look for companies that have at least signed the 'safe seed pledge'.

50 posted on 01/04/2013 1:56:10 PM PST by Black Agnes
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To: rightly_dividing

I hear that if you ever start mixing your own, you can never go back to ready made potting mix.

********************************************************
Not totally true. I am just lazy enough that I will make do depending on my mood. LOL. It may not give you the same warm fuzzy feeling, but its quick and painless to just open a bag and dump.

Then the great feeling of crossing something off the to do list compensates. LOL. Sometimes I just throw a banana peel and a couple of crushed egg shells into the pot just before I dump the store mix. Makes it feel sort of homemade.LOL


51 posted on 01/04/2013 2:09:14 PM PST by greeneyes (Moderation in defense of your country is NO virtue. Let Freedom Ring.)
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To: greeneyes

I would like to put a cistern filled by the gutters, but the HOA has rules

“that all such water storage tanks be less than 55 gallons. If the tanks exceeds 55 gallons, it shall be enclosed with the same design as the exterior of the house or other permanent fixture. Larger tanks may be buried underground with no penalty”.

Well hells bells. Anyone who thinks I am going to put up a cistern with field stone around it is crazy. The only place I can dig more than a foot deep is where my garden is located. Every else is about 4 - 6 inches of soil on unknown depths of limestone shelf. I am thinking about two or three 55 gallon barrels at two downspouts.

My neighbor used a rock saw to cut down over 10 feet to build his two story house to meet the HOA code. He got a guy with a rock hammer mounted on a backhoe to jackhammer the holes for two 1500 gallon underground tanks and a pool.


52 posted on 01/04/2013 2:13:04 PM PST by Arrowhead1952 (0 bummer inherited a worse economy in 2012 than he did in 2008.)
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To: greeneyes
A little of both, actually. It's a pretty big window, and I've also replaced the regular lights in the room (my 'studio', for lack of a better word) with plant lights.
Window faces east, so there's a lot of sun in the morning. Problem comes in the summer, when it's a balance of giving the plants enough light, and keeping the place from getting too hot to live in.
53 posted on 01/04/2013 2:27:24 PM PST by real saxophonist (I show my friends my 1911. I show my enemies my Glock.)
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To: Arrowhead1952

LOL. This makes me glad to be right in the middle of Redneck territory. We have no HOA in our subdivision. There were only a few rules in our contract, which most people ignore with impunity.

Heck, the county doesn’t even have a zoning authority, so if there is not state law agin it, we pretty much do what we want.

You know would it work to move a lot of your garden to raised beds over the limestone and free up the garden space for the underground cistern?

I’ll tell you what we decided to do. We bought an above ground swimming pool on sale at Walmart. It cost less than $300.00. It provides 4000 gallon capacity. We can let water from the roof fill it up during spring rains, cover it and put mosquito dunks or float veggie oil to prevent tadpoles and mosquitos and we are good to go.

You could swim in yours a few times at the beginning and mosquito dunks are not harmful to humans. There are articles about having “natural” swimming pools which are supposed to be better for the environment anyway.

IIRC even if you use the pool and keep it up with chlorine, you can set that water out for a day or so and the chlorine will be gone. By the end of summer it may be more of a wading pool though.LOL


54 posted on 01/04/2013 2:34:17 PM PST by greeneyes (Moderation in defense of your country is NO virtue. Let Freedom Ring.)
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To: greeneyes

What are some of the simplest, low maintenance vegetables to grow? Veggies that are almost maintenance free except for occasional watering.


55 posted on 01/04/2013 2:36:10 PM PST by tbw2
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To: greeneyes

Those are nice varieties, but they don’t quite match up with what I need. Sugar Baby, according to the description on the packet, weighs 8-10 pounds, twice as much as I can lift with my messed-up shoulder. And cantaloupe isn’t a watermelon ;)

I do have several varieties of non-watermelon melons, I’m planning to grow Rich Sweetness 132 this year. It would cross with a cantaloupe.


56 posted on 01/04/2013 2:36:21 PM PST by Ellendra (http://www.ustrendy.com/ellendra-nauriel/portfolio/18423/concealed-couture/)
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To: real saxophonist

Yeh, I know your pain. Imagine a 6 foot sliding glass door facing southwest. Misting and fans are key assets.LOL


57 posted on 01/04/2013 2:36:53 PM PST by greeneyes (Moderation in defense of your country is NO virtue. Let Freedom Ring.)
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To: hummingbird

Just stick around this weekly thread every week and you will learn some great methods to help you garden! Oh, and by the way you may learn some history and some great things about other areas of the USA and pick up some really good recipes. The gardening thread likes to wander will it may.


58 posted on 01/04/2013 2:38:29 PM PST by Red_Devil 232 (VietVet - USMC All Ready On The Right? All Ready On The Left? All Ready On The Firing Line!)
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To: tbw2

What are some of the simplest, low maintenance vegetables to grow? Veggies that are almost maintenance free except for occasional watering.

*******************************************************
With square foot gardening, that’s the way I grow all by veggies. Plant them close together, and weeds don’t gain a foot hold. The space is so small and soil is so loose that any weed daring to start can be easily pulled by hand.

Mostly after planting, I just water them when they need it, and add a little liquid fertilizer to the water once they are blooming and fruiting. Easy peazy, even for a lazy daisy like me.LOL.

My got to haves are green beans, tomatoes, lettuce, spinach, green onions and cukes. Throw in a little early corn a few carrots, and winter wheat or rye. That’s about it. Maybe throw a little red clover in the winter wheat if there is a nice warm February day to help improve the nitrogen in soil and plow it under in the spring.


59 posted on 01/04/2013 2:46:00 PM PST by greeneyes (Moderation in defense of your country is NO virtue. Let Freedom Ring.)
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To: Ellendra

Well, the sugar babies I grew didn’t get that large, but I thought you could try to cross them with a smaller one.

I know you said watermelon, but I figured you might be doing something similar with cantaloupe.

Have you ever had a vine peach? They are tiny cantaloupes that are native to North America, very mild flavor, but could be canned in a syrup and likely would pick up whatever flavor syrup you used. They also might cross with something and produce an interesting product.


60 posted on 01/04/2013 2:51:10 PM PST by greeneyes (Moderation in defense of your country is NO virtue. Let Freedom Ring.)
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