Posted on 04/26/2013 12:37:55 PM PDT by greeneyes
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Ok, I think that is similar to the row covers that I use. I get 85% sun and 4 degrees of protection when the temps are low.
Meant to ask about cucumbers. Does it do any good with respect to cucumber beetles?
I read Steve’s first book several years ago. GROWING VEGETABLES WEST OF THE CASCADES which must have been written with our Humboldt Bay region in mind. I see it is in it’s sixth edition but I’m winding down my gardening. We still buy seeds from Territorial Seed the business he founded many years ago...
The tomatoes and peppers I had to restart are doing well in their plastic cat food containers except when the cat stomps on them. I waited a couple weeks to see if anything would come back after the two floods and hail storm we had over the course of a month. Two tomatoes made it, most of the squash is recovering and lettuces are coming back and some asparagus but none to eat. The cukes and one patch of onions didn’t make it and everything else like the corn and okra has to be replanted. There’s only a sprig or two of herbs coming up and they don’t look like they are where they belong so will have to wait and see what they are and go from there in a month. Hubby tilled the garden this week and filled in the craters the flood washed out. I pulled up the random volunteer lettuce before he tilled so we’ve been eating salads all week. I was going to sow some seeds today but there were reports of severe storms and possible hail. Enough already! Everyone is laughing at me that someone doesn’t want me to have a garden this year and I’m starting to believe them.
If you don’t have egyptian walking onions in your garden you should try them. They spread and can get as big as a small leek or you can pick them skinny like green onions. They have a different flavor, and are really sweet when grilled. In west Michigan they start coming up in early March. I’d be happy to mail you some seed heads later this summer if there is a way. My patch has been growing about 15 years now and I have really enjoyed them.
I only grow what I would order for a restaurant kitchen. For onions, that means either bunching onions, or yellow Texas sweet onions.
I only grow Roma tomatoes. I'm kitchen fixated.
I'm trying to get a little out of that comfort zone.
/johnny
It does take forever to sprout but once it’s started, it’ll reseed itself so you’ll have little sprouts popping up here and there.
We use roma for canning - I buy them from a friend, have a nice garden but not that much room because we are mainly in the woods. I only get the texas sweet onions at the store. Love them. The walking onions grow a bunch of cloves at the top, that’s what falls over and sprouts. They have VERY deep roots so they can sirvive a winter. The bigger seed cloves I use like shallots, that helps keep my patch a manageable size. :) I’ll let you know it will be later this summer. Also going to try some russian tomato varieties a friend from Belarus brought over last summer. Very hardy and are said to survive a frost. Might work out well for Michigan.
We’ve had hummingbirds for a couple months. What is hilarious is there is a woodpecker who feeds at the hummingbird feeder. He hangs upside down on the little rail and steadies himself with his tail underneath the jar. Then he cranes his neck around to drink. He’s all pleased with himself and you can tell he’s smiling. We have about 20 different birds at the seed feeders. One dove is the size of a pullet. The hawk hasn’t come back after I kept chasing him off but there’s a cat that sneaks around but he’s getting the idea I don’t want him around my birds. The egrets are back and are pretty flying. There’s also herons, ducks, geese and gulls that fly by. I hope the pelicans come back this summer.
At one time, I had 107 chickens. Never again. I ended that by giving most to a community bbq and turning the rest out on the farm to fend for themselves. They didn’t last long.
Hmm, actually this is squash 2.0 after the first planting got destroyed by the first flood.
Was it you who was trying to grow stevia? Any updates?
I may get my brother to raise me 4 or 5 to large enough to fight back.
Neighbor has chickens, and I get some eggs from them sometimes, but I'd like to have a few myself for bug patrol.
/johnny
Yep.
I haven’t used it with cukes. Other cukerbits, but not cukes. As long as it is covered during the segment of the insects life cycle where they feed or attack, it should do its job. However, I don’t think that’s possible with the beetles and certainly not during blossoming.
I woke at midnight last night after hearing owls (plural) and the screech of some type of bird (windows closed). I walked outside to see what was disturbing the bird(s). A hawk flew overhead and after that the owls quit making a racquet. It’s bad enough in the daytime playing dodgem with the garden tractor to avoid hitting the killdeer’s young.
/johnny
The dratted doves, though... Tempts a man to consider taking the king's fowl out of season...
/johnny
When the buggers get in the vine (you’ll see visible frass) inject BT below the entry site as they burrow toward the root. That way they’ll be sure to get it in their gut. Unless you can slice the stem and find the grub . . .
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