2018 thread of gardening like a boss

[Both Tacos 1805]

How do you walk around in there?  Do you have a path between rows?

Yes, they are planted in rows with good spacing in between. Have tomatoes, cucumbers, squash, peppers, strawberries, green beans, snap peas and okra. Once everything gets really established it will be easier to not accidentally step on something and supports for maters and cucumbers will be going up shortly.

[RCRanger03 1049]

My best blackberry bramble is in full sun, but I have a couple in partial sun that still produce a lot. Brison is my cultivar of choice.

Noted and repped


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[686 3404]

The purple asparagus is coming out strong

[Eugene11 375]

 

Like I said. Our first attempt at gardening. We are in Portland Oregon. Planted is some carrots, lots of leafy shit. Kale and lettuce and cauliflower and broccoli. Asparagus( does it really take three years before that can produce?) onion, beets and some herbs.

 

Carrots said to mend soil with lime? Is that something y’all have done? We haven’t tested soil here but there were tons of volunteers that came up last year in the form of tomatoes and squash.

 

Tomatoes are in the green house seeded.

 

 

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[TexasEd 8064]

My house is built on limestone so I don't think I need to amend the soil with lime here.

[cactusflinthead 27594]

 
Like I said. Our first attempt at gardening. We are in Portland Oregon. Planted is some carrots, lots of leafy shit. Kale and lettuce and cauliflower and broccoli. Asparagus( does it really take three years before that can produce?) onion, beets and some herbs.
 
Carrots said to mend soil with lime? Is that something y’all have done? We haven’t tested soil here but there were tons of volunteers that came up last year in the form of tomatoes and squash.
 
Tomatoes are in the green house seeded.
 
 
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If you have an acidic soil it helps. It's the opposite end of the pH scale in many parts of Texas. We have to add sulfur instead or lots of compost. Compost helps bring it to neutral range from either end. Most stuff likes it from 6.5-7.5.

[Walden Ponderer 12639]

Nice blooms on my pumpkins. Don't recall seeing flowers this big before. Hope it's a harbinger of big pumpkins (tell me THAT's not a ribald Victorian era blue novel title...)

 

And the fava beans are blooming like crazy, too:

[workswithseed 2035]

On 3/25/2018 at 1:35 PM, cactusflinthead said:

Cayenne, banana, tiny Thai, and jalapeño in the dirt today. Sugar snap peas are coming along. 

The wife wanted to plant a blueberry so I am going to give it a try. It will probably hate our dirt and give up the ghost in July but wth, might as well give it a shot. 

Why don't you put it in a pot? 

[cactusflinthead 27594]

2 hours ago, workswithseed said:

Why don't you put it in a pot? 

It's an experiment at this stage. I stirred in a bunch of peat and compost and the dirt is pretty decent. It's amazing that it grows wild like a damn weed up in Minnesota and I have to baby it along down here. 

[workswithseed 2035]

Maybe they like the Minnesota accent more than a Texan one. Haha.

[686 3404]

My roses are having a nice start this year, very little blackspot, lots of blooms

[Brothahorn 10085]

Have no idea what this is other than a rose. But I've spent countless hours saving it from the dog and bugs.

[workswithseed 2035]

On 3/29/2018 at 9:21 AM, Walden Ponderer said:

I love skunks. Fun fact: roughly 20% of the population lacks the olfactory sensations that make skunk odor unpleasant. We lucky few actually kind of enjoy the smell. It's a similar deal to why some people hate cilantro.

I got skunked once going back to the house from my Papaw's man cave. The tamato bad that ensued made me want to throw up more than the skunk.

[thunderlounge 7752]

On 4/1/2018 at 4:45 PM, Mother mopar said:

I tried this last yr out here in So Cal and didn't have the greatest of luck. The buckets continually dried out and the fruit wasn't near as big...obviously due to water issues.

 

 

 

For the last 2 years, I've had toms in self-watering containers. Nothing more than one bucket stacked inside another, with room in between to hold a water reservoir . You don't have to water them constantly, which is nice. And when you do, just fill it up until it runs out the overflow. Even in the heat of the summer here, where I would have had to water a conventional planter twice a day, I was only watering every 2-3 days, sometimes 4-5 days.

Making them is simple, and cheap as well.

 

Supplies needed:

• 2 - 5gal plastic buckets
• 1 - 5gal plastic lid
• 2ft of 2" PVC
• 3ft of 1" PVC
• 6" of 1/2" PVC (or clear flex tubing)
• 1 quart plastic container (Like this...)
• 1 old t-shirt/rag of good size
• big bag potting mix
• bone meal, blood meal, calcium

 

Tools:

• Drill w/ 1/8", 1/2", and 1" bits
• jig saw or heavy sheers
• miter box/saw
• pencil/pen/sharpie

 

PVC Pipe Prep:

• Cut the 2" PVC into 8" lengths. (3 pieces)
• Cut a 45* angle in one end of the 1" PVC, then clip the very end to make it flat instead of a sharp point.
• Drill 4 to 6 1/2" holes in each of the 3 8" PVC lengths.

Bucket 1 Prep:

• Turn the bucket upside down. Take the plastic container and turn it upside down on the bottom of the bucket, and trace its circumference.
• Cut out the hole, staying just inside the line (so it won't fall through.)
• Drill a lot of 1/8" holes in the side and bottom of the plastic container, with a 1" hole in the center of the bottom.
• Drill a lot of 1/8" holes in the bottom of the bucket. Start about 1" from the edge of the middle cut out, and work to within 1/2" of the edge in a row. About 5 or 6 rows (kind of a star pattern) will do. Place the hole about 1"-1.5" apart.
• Drill a 1" hole in the bottom, about 1/2"-1" from the edge.
• Cut about a 4"-6" circle in the center of the bucket lid.

Bucket 2 Prep:

• Place one of the 8" pieces in the other bucket at the side. mark the top of the pipe on the side of the bucket.
• Drill a 1/2" hole about 1/4" below the mark on the side of the bucket.

Assembly:

• Stand the 3 8" PVC pipes inside Bucket 2. Spread out about 1" from the edge.
• Place the 6" length of 1/2" PVC/tubing 1/4 to 1/2 way into the hole in the side. (This is the overflow.)
• Place Bucket 1 into Bucket 2, so it rests on the PVC Pipes.
• Take the length of 1" PVC, and place the 45* end into the 1" hole in Bucket 1, and push down until it contacts the bottom of Bucket 2.
• Take the t-shirt/rag and stuff one end into the 1" hole in the middle of the plastic container. Ensuring there is at least 10" of the material hanging below the container.
• Place the container in the center hole of Bucket 1.

 

Adding soil:

• Gently scoop out some soil and place it in the center plastic container. Leave as much of the rag sticking up in the center, and gently pack soil around it.
• Once the plastic container is full, gently water with a light hose/watering can. Pack gently, add more soil. Wet, repeat. Do this until the plastic container is settled and full.
• Now fill Bucket 1 about 1/3 of the way with soil. Wet it, and fill back to 1/3. Rinse repeat until soil is settled at the 1/3 mark.
• Add some bone and blood meal (not a ton, maybe 1/8 cup of each, give or take, spread across the top of the soil), as well as calcium. For the calcium, I just crush up a bunch of generic calcium chew tablets.
• Fill soil to the 2/3 mark. Wet, add, wet, add dance again, until it's stable at 2/3 full. Add another dose of bone/blood/calcium.
• Fill soil to about 1" from the top. Do the wet/add dance, and add more bone/blood/calcium.

 

Planting:

• Slowly fill contraption through the 1" pipe sticking out the top until water runs from the overflow pipe in the side. Wait about a minute, and top it off.
• Add your tomato plant in the center.
• Mulch around the plant, and put the plastic lid on.

 

 

Additional options:

1) You could add a funnel (or a pvc drain bowl that would act as a funnt) at the top of the 1" section to make for easier filling.

2) You could use a plastic bag with a hole in the center instead of the plastic lid. (or both, even)

3) You could use sand as the mulch on top of the soil instead of other alternatives. Sand being a big deterrent to a lot of bad insects.

4) You can drill holes in the lid as needed to add a support cage.

 

 

The end result is you end up with an 8" deep water reservoir, that you fill through the 1" pipe as needed. You can't over fill it, and if it rains the soil will drain into the bottom. If it rains too much, it ends up out the overflow. (With the plastic cover, it isn't near the problem.) Although if you add a funnel type deal at the top of the fill pipe, when it rains it can help fill it up, saving you a little work. Speaking of which, the 1" pipe may seem a little tall, but you don't have to bend down quite so far to water it.

The goal is to keep the soil evenly moist, and it only retains the water it needs. It's all about balance.

 

These work excellent for tomatoes, but you could also get creative with other plantings as well. You effectively have about 1sqft to play with in terms of planting space, if you follow the SFG stuff.

 

 

[thunderlounge 7752]

deleted.

Edited April 7, 2018 by thunderlounge

[thunderlounge 7752]

deleted

Edited April 7, 2018 by thunderlounge

[thunderlounge 7752]

No idea why it posted it so many times. Oh well.

Edited April 7, 2018 by thunderlounge

[Wally Pryor 5243]

Gimme a good lawn person, south...Can't tell if I have root rot or something else going on in my St. Augustine.  Thanks.

[DougO 5239]

On 3/27/2018 at 9:12 PM, cactusflinthead said:

If you have a patio with sun you can have tomatoes and peppers. 5 gallon bucket redneck tech.

I've had good luck planting squash in an old beat up wheelbarrow. This year I decided to try a couple of poblano plants.

[Walden Ponderer 12639]

Just transplanted something like 20 or so passion flower vines... things are popping up like weeds. If I didn't love both the flowers and the fruit so much, I'd just mow 'em under, but I'm starting to run out of fence line to transplant them to.

[workswithseed 2035]

Native passion vines?

[Walden Ponderer 12639]

1 hour ago, workswithseed said:

Native passion vines?

Yep.  Some folk call 'em "Maypop". The flowers are the same vivid purple, but the fruit is green even when ripe. Just as tasty, though.

[workswithseed 2035]

When I come back to Texas, ill ask for one if you don't mind sharing. I've always wanted my own. Oh, I was taking if they were the ones south of the border. 

Pss.. I always liked the story of how the Christians taught the native about Christ using the petals and seals.

Edited April 14, 2018 by workswithseed

[Walden Ponderer 12639]

On 4/13/2018 at 7:00 PM, workswithseed said:

When I come back to Texas, ill ask for one if you don't mind sharing. I've always wanted my own. Oh, I was taking if they were the ones south of the border. 

Pss.. I always liked the story of how the Christians taught the native about Christ using the petals and seals.

I'm always happy to share. Those, blackberries, and muscadine grapes are the three things I give away the most of. Along with amaranth seed.

[TexasEd 8064]

I have a thriving population of native passion flower 

[Walden Ponderer 12639]

Freakishly fat carrots this year.  A little stumpy, but fat, and good. Probably got about 15 pounds worth, overall.

[TexasEd 8064]

Peaches filling out

Late planting but the squash, cucumbers, dill, and okra are in.  I might mulch this with live oak leaves once the sprouts are up.

[Both Tacos 1805]

Well mother tucker. Frost last night wiped out everything, including items I just planted yesterday. I hadn't looked at the weather forecast but knew that warmer weather was moving in. Didn't know about the frost warning last night or I would have thrown on a cover. Can't catch a break this year.

[cactusflinthead 27594]

On 4/15/2018 at 5:51 PM, TexasEd said:

I have a thriving population of native passion flower 

Do you get a thriving population of butterflies/caterpillars on them too? I think that is why the vine gets so rampant, self defense against the onslaught of fritillaries. 

[TexasEd 8064]

Yes, I get plenty of Gulf Flitillaries.  I am low pesticide in my yard so I have stuff other people don't.

[TexasEd 8064]

Also if we're doing plant swaps I can offer up 

• Dewberry
• Mexican Buckeye seeds
• Eve's Necklace seeds
• Mountain Laurel saplings
• Chili Petin

[Walden Ponderer 12639]

Anybody grow Mexican plums? I'm curious about them, but haven't pulled the trigger yet.

[workswithseed 2035]

I used to go out and get them wild by the lake. Could tell how to grow them though.

[TexasEd 8064]

7 hours ago, Walden Ponderer said:

Anybody grow Mexican plums? I'm curious about them, but haven't pulled the trigger yet.

my neighbor has one that hangs over my fence.  Pretty blooms but I hate the branches and fruit.  The excess fruit contributes to rodents and Plum Curculio and other pests that attack my peaches. 

Edited April 18, 2018 by TexasEd

[cactusflinthead 27594]

23 hours ago, TexasEd said:

Also if we're doing plant swaps I can offer up 

• Dewberry
• Mexican Buckeye seeds
• Eve's Necklace seeds
• Mountain Laurel saplings
• Chili Petin

I have a bunch of German iris that I have to thin out this year, solid canary yellow. Will have some hollyhock seeds later this season. 

I don't spray passionflower. It's not necessary and since it's a host plant for frittilaries that would be especially rude. The only flower spraying I have had to do this year at the house so far was a protective fungicide on the roses. They caught a bad case of shot hole fungus last year. 

[Bone3421 716]

I have my corn breaking ground in garden....think the cold last week in north texas might have ruined the rest

[Walden Ponderer 12639]

On 4/17/2018 at 11:36 PM, Bone3421 said:

I have my corn breaking ground in garden....think the cold last week in north texas might have ruined the rest

I only planted enough corn to be decorative. It's about knee high right now, in just one row, surrounded by sunflowers.  Probably enough to get one good meal out of, if we have guests over. Two meals if it's just the family. I'm debating how much I should water it, actually, given that it's not going to be yielding much. But what the hell, it's corn.

[Both Tacos 1805]

I only planted enough corn to be decorative. It's about knee high right now, in just one row, surrounded by sunflowers.  Probably enough to get one good meal out of, if we have guests over. Two meals if it's just the family. I'm debating how much I should water it, actually, given that it's not going to be yielding much. But what the hell, it's corn.

You'll be lucky to get corn with a single row planting. They rely on rows and wind to pollinate.

[Sam Lin 3541]

That said, now that it's too late to change their location, you can hand pollinate the tassels at the correct time.

[cactusflinthead 27594]

2 hours ago, Both Tacos said:

11 hours ago, Walden Ponderer said:

I only planted enough corn to be decorative. It's about knee high right now, in just one row, surrounded by sunflowers.  Probably enough to get one good meal out of, if we have guests over. Two meals if it's just the family. I'm debating how much I should water it, actually, given that it's not going to be yielding much. But what the hell, it's corn.

You'll be lucky to get corn with a single row planting. They rely on rows and wind to pollinate.

I don't remember where I saw it, but there is a method of planting corn in circles for smaller plots. Same three sisters of squash, beans, and corn, but in sort of a circle in knots rather than lines. I did a plot like it one year and it made ok. Mostly it is having them available for the pollen in the wind. Better odds in a sort of circular shape than lines. 

[Walden Ponderer 12639]

12 hours ago, Both Tacos said:

22 hours ago, Walden Ponderer said:

I only planted enough corn to be decorative. It's about knee high right now, in just one row, surrounded by sunflowers.  Probably enough to get one good meal out of, if we have guests over. Two meals if it's just the family. I'm debating how much I should water it, actually, given that it's not going to be yielding much. But what the hell, it's corn.

You'll be lucky to get corn with a single row planting. They rely on rows and wind to pollinate.

I have had success in this particular wind alley before. I ain't skeered.

[Both Tacos 1805]

Speaking of corn, I finally got around to bringing in some premium soil for the garden outside of the fence. This is going to be for corn and melons.
I've got the soil prepped and straw put down. Ran out of energy and sun to get things planted. See what the rain brings tomorrow to see when I will get the plants in the soil.

[miguelito 11216]

Badass.  It must be nice to have some good sunny areas like that, as well as decent soils (and not rock 2" below the surface).

[Both Tacos 1805]

Badass.  It must be nice to have some good sunny areas like that, as well as decent soils (and not rock 2" below the surface).

Soil is all black clay. Had to bring in 1 1/2 yards of Covington's Premium bedding soil that has scale in it to help break it down, plus added cow manure. Going to side dress the corn with blood meal for more nitrogen. Figure that after a few seasons, I'll get the soil the way it needs to be. Going to try and use the Back to Eden method.

[Deej 76533]

I've got six 4x4 box gardens in my yard. Doing well aside from neighborhood cats suddenly shitting in them at night. Recs, aside from shooting said cats, to keep them out? I don't really want to cage around them.

[Both Tacos 1805]

I've got six 4x4 box gardens in my yard. Doing well aside from neighborhood cats suddenly shitting in them at night. Recs, aside from shooting said cats, to keep them out? I don't really want to cage around them.

Just let them shit. Not going to hurt, other than you possibly stepping in a fresh pile.  

 

 

[Both Tacos 1805]

Got the corn planted just before the hard rain started. When it got to a drizzle, I planted the rest of the plants I had. Figured, I was already wet, getting more wet wasn't going to matter and I wanted to get it finished today.

[Deej 76533]

Just let them shut. Not going to hurt, other than you possibly stepping in a fresh pile.

Yeah, but they rip up some of the plants when they cover it up.

[Both Tacos 1805]

Well in that case, I got nothing.

[Walden Ponderer 12639]

17 hours ago, Deej said:

I've got six 4x4 box gardens in my yard. Doing well aside from neighborhood cats suddenly shitting in them at night. Recs, aside from shooting said cats, to keep them out? I don't really want to cage around them.

Something sticky on the top of the boxes. Pine tar, something like that. Cats hate that shit.