Gardening- 2014

Gardening is the practice of growing and cultivating plants as part of horticulture. In gardens, ornamental plants are often grown for their flowers, foliage, or overall appearance; useful plants, such as root vegetables, leaf vegetables, fruits, and herbs, are grown for consumption, for use as dyes, or for medicinal or cosmetic use. Gardening is considered to be a relaxing activity for many people.
Gardening ranges in scale from fruit orchards, to long boulevard plantings with one or more different types of shrubs, trees and herbaceous plants, to residential yards including lawns and foundation plantings, to plants in large or small containers grown inside or outside. Gardening may be very specialized, with only one type of plant grown, or involve a large number of different plants in mixed plantings. It involves an active participation in the growing of plants, and tends to be labor-intensive, which differentiates it from farming or forestry.

Great!!!

How do I encourage growth on an Indian bean tree?

Ive never pruned it. I feed it John Innes compost twice a year and after I discard the top few inches of soil:-):-)

How old is this tree? Citrus can sometimes take 4-5 years before they start producing fruit.

I only have a 5 month frost free growing season and my starts do not do well indoors. I need help.

My husband plants in ground, we use horse manure (older) and alfalfa pellets, till it in, then cover with old hay, then plant our started plants. We water it all (so alfalfa pellets decompose before planting the plants). The platns last year seemed to love it, grew very well.

The old hay cover (thick) keeps the weeds at bay and moisture in the ground, the alfalfa pellets provide slow release fertilizer. Just don't put too much down, and keep away from roots until it's decomposed a bit.

I plant in containers. Those 55 gallon ones, cut in half (we cut a hole in bottom so plants with longer roots can grow into ground, but NOT out of container). And PVC pipe with holes smack dab in the middle (I water in the hole as well as on top). Worked well last year and saved my back.

Minimal weeding if you top off with some type of mulch, old hay or alfalfa pellets make a NICE mulch.

Make sure you add water FIRST to the alfalfa pellets and let them expand and dry out before adding as mulch (so you don't burn your plants---warning alfalfa pellets expand a LOT).

Use a big bucket, fill 1/3 full of pellets and add water, maybe about a 1/3 more water and just let it sit a day or so in the sun, then when dry add it as mulch. Does double duty, mulch and slow release fertilizer.

It will stink, might not want it too close to the house. The stink goes away after awhile :) You can also soak horse manure, oh that really stinks...I just use the dry chunks, throw them on top and say hell w/it, I'm not making that stinky tea, the alfalfa pellets are bad enough!

Going to go full bore this year with the perennial medicinal herbs.

Try some fertilizer made for citrus trees and slow water them at the base. Also, pruning helps. Sometimes the trees just need a rest. I can't imagine pulling off the oranges would cause that, but I could be wrong. One of mine didn't do anything this season, but it is so loaded with blossoms now, the smell almost knocks you down. Just noticed this today.

My tree didn't bear for eight years! I was so mad, I told my husband to chop it down because it never gave us anything. Luckily he didn't listen to me because that very year it produced oranges, every year since it's been giving us a lot of fruit. I have another one that is on and off when it decides to produce. It took years, too.

My wife and I are finishing off a new Aquaponics system. Built a 52' x 22' greenhouse over the winter (hard, hard project) and will be installing all the tanks, beds, etc. over the next couple of weeks. Fish go in around mid-march and before you know it we've got year round, food production.

This is to supplement the 1.5 acres we have in orchards, berries, grapes and traditional dirt garden.

We're also up to 3 strong colonies of bees and two houses full of bats.

We eat, can, dehydrate and freeze what we grow -- with some to spare for others.

We've already started composting for the year :) My dahlia, which I dug out of the ground & potted for winter, has grown a little over a foot already. I wish I had a picture to show everyone, it really sprouted up.

We're in a false spring right now. Well rainy false spring. Not complaining though, we really need the rain, being in a drought and all. Anyone from the East coast want to send the snow to Oregon? Please? Pretty please? I'll love you forever and ever.

Unfortunately we can't really do any garden prepping with the weather and with the threat of drought we really need the garden to help out with food prices.

A great movie on gardening with less or no watering is"Back to Eden". I think you can still watch free. I have started last year to prepare my yard using this method. The key is lots and lots of mulch. I got a tree trimming service to dump a load in front of my house, they were happy to get rid of it for free.
I am in California and today I checked the ground under my six inches of mulch and the ground is still moist. Also with this method you do NOT turn the soil, and compost and manure or chicken poo is all the nutrients you need to add.
Its allot of work at first but after a while very little work. Weeds are really easy to pull by the roots, and my tomatoes took off last summer and lasted until the 3rd day of frozen temps. They were the best right off the plant, yummy, even my chihuahua loves to pick the small red ones. She is such a gentle one that she doesn't hurt the plants.


Remember more mulch= less work, fertilizer,pesticides(none this year), mud, puddles, slippery ice etc.

Same here...build a cold frame. It will give you a extra month.

We have a long season here in NC. However I have decided to plant my peas in March so that I wont have to contend with bugs this year. If I wait to long the heat bothers the garden peas, or the bugs get to them.

I am starting squash here in the house this week, so it will have a head start. We all love squash and I can never get it to grow all the way the past few years. I may even try pumpkins again this year. Not really sure, however I am planning on planting strawberry plants this year which will be new to us here.

Ideal for gardeners with limited space. I'm going make two of these next month. They'll be my new herb planters.

I hope spring is right around the corner for all of us.


Learn how to make a vertical garden planter out of an old shipping pallet.

[link to www.youtube.com]

Last Edited by Meadow1 on 02/19/2014 01:32 PM

Great tip from a permie friend who does edible landscape and utilizes everything.

After weeding - do not throw out weeds!

Cut them up and put back on soil.

Those weeds just carried away all the soil nutrients. By cutting up and sprinkling, you put it back in the soil.

This is the container system I use too, yes it works!
It's a really nice system. I haven't tried the big container 55 gallon thingy with the 72 holes yet...but I've done all the 1/2 barrels and all our plants did very well.

Thanks for that. I'll have to be patient so. Its evergreen so its pretty anyway but I thought about getting rid of it to make space.

If you can get a hold of scaffolding, and old scaffolding planks, imbed them in the ground then rivet corrugated Perspex (polycarbonate) sheets around it and then use the same Perspex for the roof you will have a nice green house for little money.

or this may work better for you...

[link to doorgarden.com]

Citrus trees that don't produce may need magnesium. My aunt had a lemon tree that did nothing for years. A friend gave it magnesium and Holy Shit! Stand Back!!

So dissolve 1/4 cup of epsom salts in a couple gallons of water and pour that on there. Worked great!

magnesium deficiency is easy to spot the leaf will turn yellow and the center vein will be dark green and wider at the base unlike a zinc deficiency that is even all the way to the tip.

Garlic, Green and Growing.

I start a few garlic cloves indoors about this of year. I bought two cloves yesterday at the market. Fill a few 6 inch pots with potting soil. Add water to the soil and allow it to drain. Divide the cloves equally and push them down in the soil about an inch. Place the pots in a warm, sunny window. In about a week, you'll see dark green sprouts. You can begin to harvest the sprouts for salads, stir frys, sauces, etc. They're mild and delicious. Once you have harvested the garlic sprouts, you can plant the cloves outdoors in late March. They'll produce a second harvest later on.

You can also get a second harvest from store bought green onions. Save the roots and lower stem part and place them in a glass of water. Place the glass in a warm, sunny window, and the roots will begin to grow again. In about 10 days you'll see green sprouts growing. You can harvest these, or let them grow bigger and plant them outdoors in late March.

careful where you get your seeds or if you take cuttings to sprout from others..
Try to find locals with good heirloom seeds that will grow in your area. Sometimes the packaged seeds are a miss, stopped pissing around with that game 3 seasons ago

one word...

Comfrey

First time I tried good heirloom veg I was shocked at the difference in taste/quality but they're harder to grow obvs

Suitable pH: acid, neutral and basic (alkaline) soils. It cannot grow in the shade. It's likes moist. Looks like these trees aren't real fast growers, so be patient. With a little love it will be magnificent.

^^^^^^^^^

nothing beats an heirloom!!!
they aren't harder to grow, it's just our generation
is so use to chemically grown veggies, tomatoes the size
of watermelons. You won't get that with an heirloom.



Last Edited by theyrcoming on 02/20/2014 02:39 PM

I'm going to try "companion planting" this year -- to repel bugs and especially (I hope) to repel deer.

So right beside the tomatoes and cucumbers I'll plant basil, huacatay (tall-growing herb from Peru and cousin of the marigold) and papalo (cilantro-tasting herb from Mexico). Deer steer away from the last 3 herbs. Flowers of the huacatay aka. southern cone marigold also attract bees.

You just need seeds that will grow proper according to your locale

Hi everyone, thanks for all the tips and info.


Today I planted green peas. I soaked the peas for 12 hours in warm water, drained off the water and planted them in prepared garden beds. I'm sure winter is not over, but I wanted to get an early start on spring veggies. It takes about 85 days or so for the peas to mature, so I want them mature and ready for harvest by mid-May. I'll turn the vines under for a quick nitrogen fix, and plant green beans, squash and onions on top of this soil.

I know the ground will freeze in the meantime, so I covered the beds with clear plastic shower curtains that I bought at the Dollar Tree. The plastic will warm the soil, possibly keep it from freezing, and will allow sunlight in to warm the soil even more. Once I see some green shoots, I'll the remove plastic, water everything, and hope for the best.

Words of wisdom from a farmer I know. "If you don't lose something when you're farming, you either planted too late or too early. Gardening is a gamble. You win some, you lose some."

Last Edited by Meadow1 on 02/23/2014 08:29 PM

Thanks lads. The leaves are evergreen and seem to be hardy. Would it do any harm to try the Epsom salts?

While Im here, How to make compost tea.(great boost for flowering plants)

Fill a pair of nylon stockings (not a typo:-)) with compost and wet with a hose.. Hang over a bucket and let the water drip out. When it stops, water it again and let it drip out. Continue until the bucket is full.

I make this quarterly.
Winter for snowdrops
Spring for Buxus, Daffodils and Camelia
Summer for annuals and shrubs
Winter for Fuschias

Half a litre weekly per plant.
The contents of the stocking added to sand can be dug in to the soil to improve drainage. Equal amounts of both.

Yes a cold frame, that would help with the deer, critters, bugs and too many attaching bees to work the ground.

I am getting a major jump start on warding off bees this spring. Just a soon as we are down to a foot of snow. A USDA man said that last year they planted the yellow jackets/wasps to kill off some kind of mites. I have a hard time believing that one. They were bad all over.

I would like to perfect growing starts indoors. There must be a few weed growers on here that would know how to give tips for growing good food starts too.

The plant starts that do fine indoors, die with just a little sun. I put them out just a little at a time to help them adjust and they just die. Others get the damp off, others are just too stalky with out enough leaf and fall over. They survivors get eaten by the critters and bugs, after all that work, time and money.