Posted on 01/10/2014 12:20:06 PM 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!
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Whoa. I’ve never seen the 3 size set. I just found mine a couple years ago.
Plastic cat food containers with drain holes poked in the bottoms do well for smaller plants. Of course, tomatoes and peppers need larger ones. I have a few larger peat pots that I’m going to try with summer squash to try to beat the squash vine borer season (as if there’s ever an off season). In Minnesota, the svb season is the last week of June and into July. Don’t know how that relates to TX but it may be that I can get a few squash if I start them indoor early.
http://www.extension.umn.edu/garden/insects/find/squash-vine-borers/
Also, to kill svb, when you see it’s been chewing on the plant, slice the vine lengthwise with a knife until you find the little monster. Do a Kim Jong Un on it. Then pack the vine with soil and it’s supposed to be a happy vine again. And, I’m going to move them outside the main garden because squash bugs will overwinter.
I was searching just now and found this. There other sites to that dont not use bought molds.
http://learningandyearning.com/2011/03/06/seed-starting-pots-from-newspaper/
In southeast Texas, 60 miles north of downtown Houston it was 66 today at the time I looked this afternoon.
The weather thingy I have gives me the readout from a unit on a table next to my chair. I don’t remember where I put the unit outside that speaks to this inside unit. At any rate, a part of this inside one is blinking with an arrow pointing to a cloud with rain coming out. That would be true since I just went to my mailbox in my car as it’s raining and got harder before I got back, in less than two minutes counting the time I got out of the car, got the mail, and go back in car and back. The mailboxes are just outside our gate and it takes about 20 seconds to get from my house to that gate. NOW, one can look at this thingy inside the house OR look out the door and the result is the same. Are we at the height of laziness to look at a thingy instead of look outside?
Ok, those are cute.
I’m planning to use mine this year with broccoli transplants. Get to start them tomorrow in fact. I’ll report back on how the fancy pot maker worked out.
Study the picture that Agnes posted. A newspaper pot is basically a piece of newspaper about 12” X 7” or there about. Fold it down an inch or so so that you have a sturdier lip for the top of the container. Wrap it around a spice jar, larger pill bottle or a large sized vitamin bottle. Leave about a 1.5” extended at the bottom so that you can twist it and moosh it flat (sort of flat). Slide the jar/bottle out and you have a little pot. The paper size will vary depending on the jar/bottle. You’ll have to put the filled pots close together in a tray so they don’t fall over (due to the not so flat bottoms). They dry out faster than other containers. By transplanting time, they are ready to fall apart and are easy to tear a bit for the roots to grow.
Here’s a link that has a picture of the wooden pot maker, and some of the paper pots.
http://www.seedandgarden.com/shop/products/Paper-Pot-Maker.html
You just cut strips of paper. Wrap them around the dowel, fold the bottom in and insert into the other part of the pot maker and twist. It’s very easy. Video link below:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LiWNviOD8-I
“unrivaled heat tolerance” and to get it to produce here in this heat that starts for earnest in June, and produce until fall, it has to have asbestos shorts on. It even says, “In deep south , Gulf and Pacific Coast area, sew from fall to early spring.”
This is the only broccoli I found that might survive and produce in my heat of 100-107 summer. Since it takes from 10-21 days for the seed to sprout and then they have to get to the point to be outside, and take 71 days to harvest and then keep producing, the poor plants are going to get hot.
So, I will experiment with these.
Where I come from in the South, people use a weather rock, it works just as good.
Some examples of the instructions for the weather rock include:
If the rock is wet, it’s raining.
If the rock is swinging, the wind is blowing.
If the rock casts a shadow, the sun is shining.
If the rock does not cast a shadow and is not wet, the sky is cloudy.
If the rock is not visible, it is foggy.
If the rock is white, it is snowing.
If the rock is coated with ice, there is a frost.
If the ice is thick, it’s a heavy frost.
If the rock is bouncing, there is an earthquake.
If the rock is under water, there is a flood.
If the rock is warm, it is sunny.
If the rock is missing, there was a tornado.
If the rock is wet and swinging violently, there is a hurricane.
If the rock has white splats on it, watch out for birds
Sorta busy here today and on the tablet. I did get some potting soil and I’ll start seeds next week.
/johnny
I do plant cold hardy varieties of lettuce, spinach and carrots for example, and cover them with row covers, straw etc as needed in the fall, and they usually give us some eating in the winter and all spring till mid June.
This winter has been so cold, that I am not sure I'll have anything that survives, but we'll see.
You can start your tomato seeds any time you want, but the limiting factor will be what stage of growth you want them to be at when you transplant them, and what kind of weather we have this spring.
Tomatoes won't do anything toward growth under 50 degrees IIRC, and they do better in warmer weather than that. We usually start our tomato seedlings about 4 to 6 weeks prior to desired outdoor transplant date. We start them indoors in front of our SW facing windows.
I have successfully taken indeterminate tomato plants indoors in the fall, and grown them through the winter. They have flowered indoors, and I pollinated them by hand either by flipping them as I passed by, or using a kid's paint brush.
So your heated green house should provide a lot of time for growing all sorts of veggies. Peppers are particularly good for growing indoors.
I will add you to the list.
Ha, ha, ha, ha - that is the funniest thing! Where do you BUY one of these rocks? :o) Ha, ha, that really is funny.
I save all sorts of plastic containers for use in the garden, and also metal tuna cans etc.
Don’t forget to tell me when to plant the tobacco and how to plant it - do we use the 5 oz paper cups?
Sounds like a very good variety for your climate.
LOL! My desk facing the window so I see everything that goes on on this side of the house. One year, a huge flood was headed our way so I tried to warn the neighors. I got eye rolls in return. Uh huh, some of their houses were flooded and we had someone’s kitchen cabinets on top of our deck. Even the old timers were perplexed how I knew about the flood. Well, duuuuuuuuuh, look up and pay attention!
That evening we had to call the sheriff’s dept. because they weren’t evicting people and they wrote us off. Their donuts had gotten soggy, yet. I was putting up pickles that night so between batches, loaded up the vehicles. I had a water level in mind of when to leave. The water hit the mark when the last batch came off the stove! Hubby just didn’t understand how important pickles were. We grabbed the kids and told the pets to jump in and called the grandparents to meet us on the way to the hills.
I’ve got several, I will sell one if you like.
For those who do not subscribe to newspapers and want to make newspaper pots...bring home the newsprint flyers handed out at stores. A lot of places have free publications printed on newsprint as well. All of this will work.
I must get myself a proper rock...
That will be the end of the month. And yes, 5oz. paper cups.
The rebel plant is in a 2 gallon pot and it will have to be repotted.
/johnny
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