2016 gardening

[EnglishSpot]

I have four 4x10 raised boxes that I "rented" for the season from the community garden. Other than some plantling broccoli, cauliflower, and Mr. Stripey tomatoes, everything else is seed--it's all popping up too!!! Spinach, okra, carrots, collards, snow peas, shallots, peppers, basil, rosemary, chamomile, leeks, parsley, bok choy, crookneck, zuchini, kohlrabi, and kale. Gonna start some sugar snap peas here at rhe house and pick up a couple Mortgage Lifters this weekend at my sister's house.

I am planting marigolds and snapdragon seeds in the front flowerbeds for color and heat tolerance. yay, me!!

 

[alforddm]

Just have to share...I'm a bit excited.

I'm been getting all our hot weather stuff planted. I started 12 black krimm tomatoes, a bunch of jalapeno peppers, and 4 globe artichokes earlier in the spring but didn't give them enough light. I went ahead and planted them and they are starting to take off now that they are outside. We also purchased 6 beef master tomatoes and 6 cherry tomatoes (I think only 2 of the cherries are going to live), 6 yellow bell peppers and 3 green bells.

This week I've gotten 2 -60ish ft rows of okra (I told hubby he was crazy but that is what he wanted). A 60ish foot row of yellow squash. 4-40 ft rows of sweet corn (in addition to the 2 80ft row already well along). 1-80 foot row of 1/2 watermelon and 1/2 cantaloupe, 1-80ft row of cucumbers, 1/2 eating and 1/2 picking.

Tomorrow hopefully I'll get finished up with some different varieties of squash/pumpkin I've been wanting to try out.

My father-in-law has been coming up every couple of days (he lives next door) to check the potatoes. It's kinda funny. He is really wanting some of those new potatoes... His all rotted in the ground due to all the rain. Our garden is a bit high up so it drains better.

This is the first year for us to have a real garden and also the first time my father-in-law has cut his by 2/3 due to his health.

 

[akane]

**** morning glory vines. Never plant them. Never. Every future owner of your land and nearby land will thank you. I've been going through all my seeds that sprouted pulling the morning glory seedlings. At least they are easy to see. The raspberries have done nothing yet. I put in a butterfly bush and it has leaves. The blueberries have buds but no leaves. My mint suffered the dark indoors followed by dark rainy weather but I have at least one good chocolate mint established. I picked up a few pepper plants and sure enough my pickle peppers decided to make an appearance weeks late.

 

[michaels4gardens]

**** morning glory vines. Never plant them. Never. Every future owner of your land and nearby land will thank you. I've been going through all my seeds that sprouted pulling the morning glory seedlings. At least they are easy to see. The raspberries have done nothing yet. I put in a butterfly bush and it has leaves. The blueberries have buds but no leaves. My mint suffered the dark indoors followed by dark rainy weather but I have at least one good chocolate mint established. I picked up a few pepper plants and sure enough my pickle peppers decided to make an appearance weeks late.

Morning glory is the only exception to my "no Round-up" rule-- we get a rubber glove, and a little cup of roundup, dip the end of our gloved finger in the cup and then touch each morning glory plant we see in or near our gardens...

 

[Rainey]

Our gardens are off to a bumpy start. The peas we planted early came up spotty with lots of gaps. So we got more seed and after we'd planted another bed, the weather warmed and the gaps in the first beds filled in. But the harvest will be rather uneven. We keep getting nights that go down about 10 degrees colder than the forecast--keeps us guessing when to leave flats of seedlings out overnight and when to bring them in.
Haven't had any asparagus yet but can see some tips starting to show. And we've been enjoying wild greens--ramps and fiddleheads--while we wait for the garden to get going. Also starting to harvest shiitakes from our natural fruiting logs.
Need rain. Can't start the drip irrigation until it warms up a bit more.
The wildflowers are blooming all through the woods and so many birds are back that it is hard for me to keep my attention on my work.
And when I was wanting rain and warmth to get the rabbit forage growing, I forgot that would also mean more weeds in my gardens

 

[FourRingCircus]

**** morning glory vines. Never plant them. Never. Every future owner of your land and nearby land will thank you. I've been going through all my seeds that sprouted pulling the morning glory seedlings. At least they are easy to see. The raspberries have done nothing yet. I put in a butterfly bush and it has leaves. The blueberries have buds but no leaves. My mint suffered the dark indoors followed by dark rainy weather but I have at least one good chocolate mint established. I picked up a few pepper plants and sure enough my pickle peppers decided to make an appearance weeks late.

Morning glory is the only exception to my "no Round-up" rule-- we get a rubber glove, and a little cup of roundup, dip the end of our gloved finger in the cup and then touch each morning glory plant we see in or near our gardens...

DH's family is round-up happy, but I try to get by without it... getting ready to have to wage war on a whole lotta poison oak/ivy that is taking over areas of the yard that we are in and out of quite a bit though (around the rabbit hutches, through my garden area, surrounding the kids' garden areas, where we hang our hammocks, where the dog lot gate is, etc.). Just bought some "brush" spray that's supposed to be good for it. I tried just pulling it up, but that stuff is showing up everywhere! And the vines seem to be never ending. Any other ways to get rid of it??

 

[ladysown]

to get rid of poison oak

1. pull up the ENTIRE plant.... including all the roots.

2. glyphosate, triclopyr or a combination of these chemicals to kill the poison oak plants - best to do so at the beginning of the growing season.

3. cut it short, cover it up until is dies (with a strong dark plastic) and then dig it up. Boil hot water to kill the plant.. then again DIG UP ALL the roots.

4. Hire a goat to eat it up. Again, permanent removal requires getting ALL the roots.

5. Crowd them out with a good ground cover. "poison oak tends to thrive in "disturbed" areas with bare soil"