# 2018 garden thread!



## EatenByLimestone (Mar 4, 2018)

On March 1st I finished trimming the peach tree.  The next day, 11" of wet snow got dumped on it.  But before that happened, I got peas in the ground.   Stuff that was peeking above the soil was rhubarb, horseradish, perennial arugula , garlic, egyptian walking onions, and some kale.

I normally can start getting plants in the ground mid April.   I want to try to stretch the boundaries of that this year and do some planting under cover.

I started basil, zucchini, good king Henry and Sea Kale in flats today.    Anybody else starting to poke and prod the earth?


----------



## begreen (Mar 5, 2018)

Out little cucumber start is about 8" tall now and has 2 real leaves on it. I was just looking at pictures from this date 2 years ago. We had a much warmer start to spring that year. The pictures showed tomato starts about 3" tall, cukes about 6" tall and peas in the ground at least a foot tall. Not this year, but I am going to start our tomatoes and more cukes today. They may need transplanting into bigger pots in 6 weeks if it stays cold. If not, they will go outside at that time. We'll see.


----------



## EatenByLimestone (Mar 6, 2018)

For some reason I started thinking about making tomato sauce today.  I started thinking about a squeezo strainer and on a lark checked craigslist.  One was posted 9 days ago!   New they are over 200.  This one came with an extra strainer for berries and was $55!   

Woohoo!


----------



## Chimney Smoke (Mar 6, 2018)

Still a little too early for me here in southern Maine.  I did go through my leftover seeds and started my list of what I need to buy.  In another week or two it'll be time to start my broccoli seeds.  Expecting 18 inches of snow tomorrow night through Thursday...


----------



## EatenByLimestone (Mar 6, 2018)

Yeah, hearing 10-15 here.   I'm hoping the weather guesses are wrong.


----------



## Dobish (Mar 9, 2018)

ive got my plants started at the local greenhouse. i have to move my garden this year, but we won't put anything in the ground until may.


----------



## begreen (Mar 9, 2018)

We're predicted to kiss 70º on Monday. I guess I better get working on the beds.


----------



## firefighterjake (Mar 10, 2018)

begreen said:


> We're predicted to kiss 70º on Monday. I guess I better get working on the beds.



I shoveled more snow today . . . and am seriously thinking about going for a short ride on the sled. The town next to me went out and groomed the trails last night . . . thought Spring was right around the corner . . . I was wrong.


----------



## Chimney Smoke (Mar 13, 2018)

18 inches of snow last Thursday and 20 more coming today.  My gardening thoughts are still on hold...


----------



## firefighterjake (Mar 13, 2018)

Chimney Smoke said:


> 18 inches of snow last Thursday and 20 more coming today.  My gardening thoughts are still on hold...



. . . and I am thinking that the riding this weekend will be excellent


----------



## Chimney Smoke (Mar 13, 2018)

Should be perfect with 3-4 feet of heavy snow and colder temps this weekend.


----------



## EatenByLimestone (Mar 13, 2018)

Set out some cold frames to start warming the garden.   Days are in the upper 30s here.  We keep getting hammered by snow, but it keeps melting.


----------



## AlbergSteve (Mar 22, 2018)

New property, new tractor, spring is here, gotta get this place dug up....



Only six more beds to go!


----------



## EatenByLimestone (Mar 22, 2018)

Very nice!   We were spared this last nor'easter, but have plenty of snow left!


----------



## EatenByLimestone (Mar 26, 2018)

The snow should be gone by the end of the week.  Hopefully I'll be able to get the garden in by the middle of next month, my normal time.   I was hoping to start everything early and have it in early April.  Only the weather will tell... lots of stuff is ready.   Some lettuce is planted in between the walking onions and chives.  

I probably can transplant the kale in.


----------



## begreen (Mar 26, 2018)

Our starts are doing ok in the greenhouse, though I've had to keep a heater in there to keep nighttime temps over 40º. The greenhouse cuke is happy and putting on height quickly. It's over a foot tall.


----------



## EatenByLimestone (Mar 26, 2018)

Nice!   I put the plants out in the sun each day, and bring them in at night.  Were a bit cool still.


----------



## begreen (Mar 26, 2018)

I need to get the peas in ground soon. Will cover the row with remay and hope for the best.


----------



## Chimney Smoke (Mar 27, 2018)

I have around two feet of snow on the ground around my garden still.  Luckily I can start seeing the edges of my garden beds so once they get exposed the snow will melt pretty quickly.  This week I'll get my brocolli and pepper seeds started inside.


----------



## DuaeGuttae (Apr 1, 2018)

We moved to a completely different gardening zone last fall, and everything I planted for fun was eaten by deer (except for the leeks thankfully).  This weekend my husband and I moved three fencing panels on our property that weren't actually fencing anything in.  Then we moved a gate that was simply secured to the porch of a shed.  We grabbed some unused pier blocks but then did make a run to the store for two more pier blocks and some posts.  We're hoping the enclosure is sufficiently small to discourage the deer from jumping inside.

The containers have moved with us all the way back from our days when we rented a townhouse in Virginia.  Since they have a water reservoir in the bottom and wick moisture up we thought we'd start our attempts at Texas gardening in them.  As you can see, we're rather lacking in the soil department around here.

Sprouting in the containers are lima beans, corn, okra, tomatoes, cucumbers, dill, basil, and leeks.  All of these were old seeds, and we don't hope for much of a harvest, but we figured we'd put the seeds to use, try to keep the deer out, carry water from the rain barrels when they have it, and see how things go.  Our frost date passed a couple of weeks ago.  It's a different world down here.
	

		
			
		

		
	




 The cube inside will either serve for trellis netting to grow the vines vertically, or we'll see if we require bird netting in addition to deer fencing.


----------



## begreen (Apr 1, 2018)

Soil looks like it needs testing and compost, a lot of it.


----------



## begreen (Apr 1, 2018)

Peas are in the ground as of yesterday. They're about 4-8" tall. I transplanted cukes and tomatoes (brandy boy) to larger pots today. Greenhouse cuke is 18" tall and setting baby cukes already. I may pick them off so that it concentrates on root development and growth right now.


----------



## DuaeGuttae (Apr 3, 2018)

begreen said:


> Soil looks like it needs testing and compost, a lot of it.



Soil?

Sadly the property has been overgrazed, and erosion has taken a big toll.  It’s still a beautiful place, and it’s coming back little by little.  It’s amazing what can grow out of limestone rock.  

That’s why the garden is in pots.  The sprouts survived another night without the deer getting them.


----------



## begreen (Apr 3, 2018)

Feed the soil not the plants. You will be surprised at how well it will respond once the organic and carbon contents are brought up.

Here's a great story of the restoration of Texas soil at one ranch. It also brought back water to the property!
https://bambergerranch.org/our-story


----------



## Chimney Smoke (Apr 3, 2018)

Well the snow has finally melted from all of my garden area and I started my broccolli, sweet pepper and hot pepper seeds last weekend.


----------



## EatenByLimestone (Apr 3, 2018)

begreen said:


> Feed the soil not the plants. You will be surprised at how well it will respond once the organic and carbon contents are brought up.
> 
> Here's a great story of the restoration of Texas soil at one ranch. It also brought back water to the property!
> https://bambergerranch.org/our-story




Feeding the soil helps the beneficial fungi and predators take hold too.   Less pests taking hold works for me


----------



## DuaeGuttae (Apr 3, 2018)

begreen said:


> Feed the soil not the plants. You will be surprised at how well it will respond once the organic and carbon contents are brought up.
> 
> Here's a great story of the restoration of Texas soil at one ranch. It also brought back water to the property!
> https://bambergerranch.org/our-story



Yes, David Bamberger is a name I ran across early on in my research.  We would like to visit Selah one day.

We are working on helping the land come back. I’ve been trying to identify all the plants so that we can get rid invasives appropriately.  We’re creating mulch from our clearing and using it, but it’s definitely a multi-year project.  Our compost tumbler was actually the first piece of “furniture” we set up when we moved in.

I could probably make a whole different thread if people wanted to engage with me about Ashe Juniper and White horehound as well as Nandina and Ligustrum.  On this one I wanted to talk about cucumbers and peach trees.


----------



## EatenByLimestone (Apr 3, 2018)

I'm at the northern end of peach cultivation.  There are a few apple orchards with peaches within 5 miles, but go any further than that, and the blossoms are killed.  Some years I don't get peaches on my trees.


----------



## begreen (Apr 3, 2018)

Peaches grow well in our climate, but they can be plagued with peach leaf curl due to our damp autumn weather. The solution is to build a cover over the tree. Frost peach is the most leaf curl resistant and fortunately quite tasty. This was a harvest during a bumper year from one tree. Unfortunately we lost the tree a few years later due to an pest moving up from California. I have new trees planted now. Two are dwarves that will be easy to keep under cover once the leaves drop.




As for cucumbers, fortunately there are a lot of great varieties to choose from. We have settled on Sweet Success. It performs well in the greenhouse and in the garden. This allows us to have cukes from April thru November and sometimes into December. Our greenhouse Sweet Success is now about 20" tall. I've plucked off the first cukes already so that the plant's energy is focussed on strong roots and growth. The next ones will be allowed to fruit.


----------



## EatenByLimestone (Apr 3, 2018)

My cukes are about an inch tall.   Mid April I'll put them in the ground with a cover.  The local garden centers won't sell them until late may.


----------



## DuaeGuttae (Apr 4, 2018)

EatenByLimestone said:


> My cukes are about an inch tall.   Mid April I'll put them in the ground with a cover.  The local garden centers won't sell them until late may.



I read this just after reading about Begreen’s plucking the fruit off his greenhouse cucumber, and my mind immediately went to your having one inch long fruit already.  My brain clicked in, and then I understood.

I’ve enjoyed growing Alibi Hybrid cucumbers a few times.  Because of limited space in former homes we have grown them vertically and pruned them to a single stem.  Ours are probably about an inch or two but in the garden.  I plan to go vertically again, but we need to figure out how to put up our trellis.  We used to pound rebar into the ground and slip a frame over it.  We have the frames built and netted, but we can’t put rebar in the ground here without an impact drill.  We may just hang the frames from our cube.

My mother had an orchard when I was growing up, but I never really learned about the care of the trees from her.  The previous owners of this house planted a number of fruit trees, but the trees haven’t been pruned properly and are all growing into each other.  There is a very large peach tree, and I’ll need to learn from you what I should do to care for it.  Probably get the live oak that’s growing over it trimmed back.  Now is not a good time to prune oak in our area, though.

There is also one place in the yard where a cherry tree, loquat tree, and pomegranate tree are all growing into one another.  I have other trees I have yet to identify still.


----------



## EatenByLimestone (Apr 4, 2018)

I have pretty hard clay soil here too.  I've found best luck by covering it.   Leaves, wood chips, whatever is natural and cheap.  Let nature fix it!   It'll happen fairly fast.  

As far as pruning goes, I learn more about it every year.  I suppose the first thing to learn is to learn how the tree in question produces fruit.  For peaches, it's last year's growth.  

I was trained on apples, so my tree looks like an open vase, with a small central leader, lol.  It works.  Purists would probably have a cow though.  My pruning tools are a handsaw and a pruner.  I don't like loppers.  They can be a bit awkward due to their size.

Use your trees as the trellis.  I had cucumbers growing up my peach tree last year.  I'm going to grow tomatoes up it this year.  

Have fun with it!  If you're having fun it'll never get old.


----------



## begreen (Apr 4, 2018)

We grow our greenhouse Sweet Success cuke on a single vine too, though as it matures it often branches out so I put up a high scaffold for it to sprawl on. Last year it grew to about 6ft. tall and about 8' wide at the top on the scaffold. I just transferred the starter cukes to 4" pots along with the tomato starts.


----------



## Dobish (Apr 4, 2018)

i got around to moving my garden out back... haven't put dirt in it yet. the old dirt is still sitting there in a square with 1 piece of kale growing out of it!  Can't wait for the new garden!


----------



## EatenByLimestone (Apr 4, 2018)

I stopped in to Lowe's today to pick up some seeds.  They had some plantlets in, and on sale.  A pot of oregano followed me home.  Supposedly it's perennial in zone 5.  I hope it is!  3 whole dollars were invested into it!


----------



## DuaeGuttae (Apr 4, 2018)

EatenByLimestone said:


> I stopped in to Lowe's today to pick up some seeds.  They had some plantlets in, and on sale.  A pot of oregano followed me home.  Supposedly it's perennial in zone 5.  I hope it is!  3 whole dollars were invested into it!



Yum.  I love the smell of fresh oregano.  I don’t know its cold hardiness, but what are your plans to keep it from following all the rest of your garden plants into their homes?  It’s already shown itself to be quite the stalker in following you home.


----------



## begreen (Apr 4, 2018)

Oregano is pretty tough. We've never lost any. Just be sure it's greek oregano (Origanum heracleoticum) and not the similar but weaker marjoram.


----------



## EatenByLimestone (Apr 5, 2018)

It's Italian oregano.  Supposedly more cold tolerant than Greek.  We shall see.  I plan to put it in a warmer microclimate of the garden.  Its my leafy green bed and I want to get some perennial roots in that area.  The whole mycorrizal symbiotic relationship is facinating to me.  Anything I can do to help it flourish I want to.  Planting perennials around the garden to ensure healthy populations seems like a no brainer.  

My broccoli and other brassica won't benefit from the fungi themselves, but the change they make to the soil structure should be beneficial.  I was thinking of putting a couple strawberry plants in with them.


----------



## Chimney Smoke (Apr 5, 2018)

My brocolli seeds have sprouted on the counter, that's a start...


----------



## begreen (Apr 5, 2018)

EatenByLimestone said:


> It's Italian oregano.  Supposedly more cold tolerant than Greek.  We shall see.  I plan to put it in a warmer microclimate of the garden.  Its my leafy green bed and I want to get some perennial roots in that area.  The whole mycorrizal symbiotic relationship is facinating to me.  Anything I can do to help it flourish I want to.  Planting perennials around the garden to ensure healthy populations seems like a no brainer.
> 
> My broccoli and other brassica won't benefit from the fungi themselves, but the change they make to the soil structure should be beneficial.  I was thinking of putting a couple strawberry plants in with them.


I think 'Italian" oregano is marjoram ((Origanum x majoricum) It is a very tough plant and can really spread. I started some years ago and now have to hack it back a few times a year. The flavor is much milder than greek oregano, but it'll do in a pinch.

We are learning agriculture anew and the focus now is on feeding the soil, not the plant. A local professor and his wife have written a series of books on the soil and the mycorrhizal environment. He's lectured locally several times.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0393353370/?tag=hearthamazon-20
Also local is the foremost mycologist, Paul Stamets. He was a prof when I was in college.
http://www.fungi.com/about-paul-stamets.html

I've been managing a local test garden where we are exploring the effect of adding carbon via compost and biochar on plant growth. The garden started out as really poor clay fill soil that would only grow deep rooted, tough weeds. We're in the 3d year now and the turnaround has been fantastic, better than expected.


----------



## DuaeGuttae (Apr 6, 2018)

begreen said:


> I think 'Italian" oregano is marjoram ((Origanum x majoricum) It is a very tough plant and can really spread. I started some years ago and now have to hack it back a few times a year. The flavor is much milder than greek oregano, but it'll do in a pinch.
> 
> We are learning agriculture anew and the focus now is on feeding the soil, not the plant. A local professor and his wife have written a series of books on the soil and the mycorrhizal environment. He's lectured locally several times.
> https://www.amazon.com/dp/0393353370/?tag=hearthamazon-20
> ...



That reminds me of the reading I was doing about Hugelkultur last year.  I was moving a lot of decayed splitter scraps to the garden, and we had some good success.

I have dreams of making a large Hugelkultur bed up in our garden area.  I’m just not sure that I should realistically try that this season with all the other work the property needs, but we’ll see what I manage. I think watermelon would be fun.  (I also think it would be fun to build a lattice to shade the air conditioning units that are located on the southern side of the house and to grow passionfruit vines on them.)

The temperature is actually supposed to drop to 39 tonight after being in the 80’s today.  I don’t think the okra will die, but I don’t think it will be happy either.  I’m hoping for a good crop now that I’m in the Deep South.


----------



## begreen (Apr 6, 2018)

Tried hugelkultur but found it much less effective than other methods. Maybe I wasn't doing things right. Best results so far for improving deficient soil so far have been adding good compost and worm castings. I did an experiment with bokashi and that was interesting. We had huge fat earthworms in that bed the next year. That might be worth exploring for jump starting microbial activity.


----------



## firefighterjake (Apr 7, 2018)

EatenByLimestone said:


> I'm at the northern end of peach cultivation.  There are a few apple orchards with peaches within 5 miles, but go any further than that, and the blossoms are killed.  Some years I don't get peaches on my trees.



There is a guy the next town over from me that grows and sells peaches . . . from what I've read he just happens to be in the right place for it -- something about being up high or down in a valley that causes a micro-climate that allows his orchard to survive.


----------



## Chimney Smoke (Apr 8, 2018)

Started my tomato seeds today.  So far I have brocolli under the lights, waiting on hot and sweet peppers to germinate and then go under the lights.  Hopefully the tomatoes will be sprouted by the end of the week.


----------



## DuaeGuttae (Apr 9, 2018)

Chimney Smoke said:


> Started my tomato seeds today.  So far I have brocolli under the lights, waiting on hot and sweet peppers to germinate and then go under the lights.  Hopefully the tomatoes will be sprouted by the end of the week.



I just looked up Frost dates in Maine.  When do you aim to put peppers and tomatoes in the ground?

This is our first year gardening in Texas.  Supposedly we should have started tomatoes indoors at the end of January.  I didn’t manage it at the proper time, so I just sowed seeds in the soil a couple weeks ago.  I’ve got a bunch of seedlings up.  This whole year is something of a “try it and see what happens” for us in this new zone.

My eight-year-old son mentioned to me yesterday that he had seen rhubarb growing on the property.  I explained to him that it wasn’t likely and asked him to describe what he’d seen.  Big green leaves on reddish stalks growing in a clump.  Pokeweed.


----------



## DuaeGuttae (Apr 9, 2018)

begreen said:


> Tried hugelkultur but found it much less effective than other methods. Maybe I wasn't doing things right. Best results so far for improving deficient soil so far have been adding good compost and worm castings. I did an experiment with bokashi and that was interesting. We had huge fat earthworms in that bed the next year. That might be worth exploring for jump starting microbial activity.



I’ve never done official hugelkultur, just used decayed splitter scraps and sawdust in beds and containers. We used to have the best worms in the wood processing section of the yard.  We had a huge stump from a tree that died that we allowed to decay for years, and we used to plant things from time to time.  I had some hydrangeas that got too much heat from a neighbor’s fence that I moved to that spot.  They loved it.  My nine-year-old daughter did the rest of the bed and surrounded it with the quartz she had dug up in the yard over the years.




We’ve been in our new home in Texas for almost seven months and have pretty much finished filling our eighty gallon compost tumbler.  We just topped it up with a huge amount of oak leaves and catkins that fall on the non-ground areas of the back yard.  We need to start on the second tumbler and let the first one cook.  I’m pretty excited as a woman at our church who makes coffee every week is willing to let me have the grounds.  We don’t brew coffee at home, so this will be an exciting addition.  Yep, I get very excited about compost.


----------



## Chimney Smoke (Apr 9, 2018)

I'm in southern Maine and I usually start planting late April to early May.  This year is looking more like early May for my early stuff (brocolli, chard, lettuce) and probably mid to late May for tomatoes.  My peppers go out the same time as tomatoes but I do those in buckets instead of in ground.  I don't have full sun in my yard so I can move my peppers into the maximum daylight areas I have.


----------



## EatenByLimestone (Apr 9, 2018)

My garden is usually well in by April 15th.  Last frost date is May 8.   We're still in the mid 20s at night.  It's been brutal on vegetables!


----------



## Chimney Smoke (Apr 9, 2018)

My garden has only been free of snow for about a week now, still frozen about 3 inches under the surface.


----------



## DuaeGuttae (Apr 10, 2018)

EatenByLimestone said:


> My garden is usually well in by April 15th.  Last frost date is May 8.   We're still in the mid 20s at night.  It's been brutal on vegetables!



Microclimates are so interesting.  I grew up in Virginia, and the frost date in that part is May 10.  My mother is a great gardener and record keeper, and she can tell me what years she lost plants to frosts that occurred after that.

We just had a 37 degree night in our area (I don’t actually have a working outdoor thermometer at the moment), and my cucumber seed leaves turned brown.  The true leaves are visible but still pretty small.  Our frost date passed in mid March.  The corn and okra seedlings are doing well from all appearances.


----------



## begreen (Apr 10, 2018)

We live in a dramatic microclimate zone. Our area gets about half the rainfall just 10 miles north and half that of Seattle. We are often in sun while Seattle north is cloudy and often rainy. Sometimes that's good, but it's hard on some trees. We have a large coastal redwood that is struggling after 3 very dry summers.


----------



## begreen (Apr 10, 2018)

Here's our current crop. We'll be picking lettuce and spinach soon. The cuke in the background is 2' tall now and setting its first cucumber. All the starter plants are destined for outdoors. Our last frost date is April 30th.


----------



## Dobish (Apr 10, 2018)

i went to the botanical gardens the other day and they had some great raised beds. I pretty much want to landscape my back yard like the kids area...

they had a ton of tree stumps and wood blocks made out of trees that made me laugh. I said to my wife... "I think its hillarious that we paid to come visit a place that is basically our back yard..."


----------



## EatenByLimestone (Apr 10, 2018)

I noticed yesterday that leafy greens planted outside are beginning to poke up out of the soil.


----------



## DuaeGuttae (Apr 24, 2018)

One of our cucumbers bit the dust.  I’m thinking it may have been too much sun reflecting from the corner of the container.  In the other corner I had a plant that needed to be thinned, so I moved that one.  We’ll see if it can survive the shock as it’s going to be 85 and very sunny today.

The other plants seem to be doing well.  We harvested a small leek to add to our meal yesterday (mostly because it needed thinning).  

I also obtained some old wine bottles from a neighbor who had a soirée over the weekend.  I used to have a collection of glass bottles that I would upend in containers that didn’t have a water reservoir, but we didn’t move them with us.  I’m glad to be building up a supply again as the weather gets hotter here.

The squirrels figured out that the peaches were ripening.  The kids and I enjoyed a few of the early ones, but the squirrels took all the rest over the weekend.  Quite sad for my kids.  Now I need to get serious about figuring out how to rejuvenate the tree.  It hasn’t been maintained over the years and is growing pretty wildly.  @EatenByLimestone or @begreen, any recommended reading on radical pruning of a peach?  We didn’t do anything to it this spring because we just didn’t expect spring to come quite so quickly as it did in this part of the world.


----------



## begreen (Apr 24, 2018)

If the tree need serious pruning, spread it out over a few years and don't take more than a third productive growth per year. Pay attention to major limbs that are the best fruit producers. In our area I would be waiting until August to do summer pruning of a peach and that would just be pinching back more aggressive growth. Sap flow is less in late summer and the tree won't try to put on vegetative growth. Normally peach trees are pruned in late winter, but you could take out dead wood and branches growing inward or crossing in summer.

Here is Texas A&M guide
https://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu...e/hortupdate_archives/2002/mar02/art8mar.html
https://www.starkbros.com/growing-guide/how-to-grow/fruit-trees/peach-trees/pruning


----------



## DuaeGuttae (Apr 24, 2018)

Thanks for those links, Begreen.  I had read the Texas A&M guide before as they are one of my go-to sites for this area.  I found the Stark Brothers to be more helpful, though, and hadn’t found that article.

The previous owners of this house loved plants and trees, and there has obviously been pruning done over the years, but it either wasn’t kept up in recent years, or they just didn’t know how to do it effectively.  The peach tree is far too large with fruiting growth upwards of 15 feet.  There are young fruit (apple and Asian pear) that have been planted as well, but they look as though they’ve not been pruned at all.  We’ve got lots of work to do, and we won’t get to it all either.  Right now our focus is on pulling up invasives before they set seed (horehound and privet), so it will be nice to put off worrying about fruit trees till later.


----------



## EatenByLimestone (Apr 25, 2018)

Every year I trim the majority of the suckers off my peach tree.  Otherwise I end up with way too much fruit and have to worry about branches breaking.   The tree looks absolutely bald after pruning.  Yet the next spring I'm taking 6 + foot long suckers off again.   To try to get ahead of this a bit I tried something new last year.  I tried light summer pruning.  Suckers that would never stay were trimmed to help light and air through.  If I found a sucker growing down I snipped it off.  If it was crossing another, similar fate.  Plenty was left for late winter hacking.

I think if I were going to try to get a tree under control I'd start with the 1/3 rule mentioned above.  It sure seems that the tree puts 50% more volume on every year though!  I'd probably use a handsaw and start shaping.  I'd start cutting larger branches that were higher than you want to reach for fruit.  I keep mine trimmed so I can harvest off a 4 foot step ladder.   
I might hit the top first year and start shaping the vase.  2nd year I'd take the suckers off that poke above where you want as they would be hard to harvest and start working out cutting off crosses.  I think you'll find that'll take a good amount of volume out.   

The 3rd year I'd probably hit the top, work out the new crosses, and then cut some more off.  Peaches are heavy producers.  You may find yourself pulling unripe fruit off to lighten the load.   

The moment I see the fruit attacked by squirrels I set traps for them.  I also start my harvest.  Use a burlap or hemp type bag and refrigerate with lots of air movement.  They produce so much ethylene they will overripren over night and spoil!


----------



## begreen (Apr 26, 2018)

Our main issue is peach leaf curl. This year I am going to make winter covers for them to deal with this problem.


----------



## DuaeGuttae (Apr 27, 2018)

I know it’s not the right time to take action, but every time I walk by the peach tree I find myself trying to figure out where to begin.  It’s hard to capture the full sprawl of the tree with a photo, but here’s a shot of it.  The photo makes it look a little shorter than it is because it’s taken from above, but my five-foot-tall daughter is standing in the open vase to give some perspective.

There is some dead wood that we need to remove obviously, and we will also be removing the huge bushes that are growing up into it.  They are showing signs of being infected with a fungus that will eventually kill them anyway.  We haven’t gotten to it because there’s only so much we can handle at one time, and we’re still in the process of clearing up a privet hedge.

We also need to trim back the live oak, but we need to do that in the fall or winter to be safer from oak wilt infection.

I’m actually okay with not working to maximize peach harvest as one of my children is allergic to salicylates in food, and peaches have a high content.  I do want to help the tree be healthy and productive and maintain it properly.  I know it will take some time to restore it, but if anything jumps out at you as a “begin here” cut, I’d be grateful for the pointers.


----------



## EatenByLimestone (Apr 27, 2018)

Can't really see enough to give advice on what to cut, but walk by it with a saw.   If you see something that looks bad, cut it off.   Next week, do it to another that needs to be removed.   If the saw is sharp, you won't hurt the tree.  Going at it that slow will allow you to avoid the 1/3 rule too.


----------



## begreen (Apr 27, 2018)

Too hard to tell what is safe to cut by this one picture. We would need several shots from different sides of the tree. It would be easier to comment if you have a picture of the peach tree without leaves. The long sprawling limb that heads over the fence looks like a candidate but the question is where. Without seeing that entire limb in detail I hesitate to make a recommendation.


----------



## DuaeGuttae (Apr 28, 2018)

Yes, sorry about the picture.  I’ll see what more I can find or take.  It will probably be easier when some of the other greenery is out of the way, but that will probably be a while.  I think I know to start with dead wood, so that’s the first thing.  In studying the tree, there is more than at first meets the eye.


----------



## begreen (May 1, 2018)

Planted corn yesterday. I sprouted the seeds first. Hoping to see baby shoots poking up by next week. Broccoli, brussel sprouts, spinach and lettuce are all growing well outside. I have a few tomatoes outside too. So far they look happy.


----------



## EatenByLimestone (May 1, 2018)

I put 5 tomatoes in the ground yesterday.   I was afraid they'd get root bound soon.   I've never had them in this early.   Zucchini is in too!    Our frost free date is may 8th, so I'm crossing my fingers and watching the weather closely.


----------



## DuaeGuttae (May 1, 2018)

You just reminded me that I need to sprout some einkorn wheat (for eating, not planting).

My son’s corn is growing, but I’m thinking it may need more nitrogen.  It’s more yellow than I would like to see.

Our excitement is that our pimientos finally sprouted.  I decided just to go ahead and start them outdoors, and I knew there would be some cool time, and peppers always seem so slow to me, but I was just beginning to wonder if they would really come up when the five year old spotted the green shoots yesterday.  That was exciting.

We’re having some cloudy weather this week and some occasional showers.  I’m hoping that my larger rain barrel will get some water in it.  The rain has to be strong enough for the flow off the roof to hit just right as we don’t have gutters and downspouts—something that shocked me about moving to Texas.  Last week we had a storm so strong the water overshot and hit the overflow barrel, but it was more full than the original.  I had raised both barrels onto cinderblock bases and had bailed water from the larger into the overflow so that I could lift it.  It’s been gray and moist this week but not enough rain to cause water to stream off the roof.  Storms may be coming later this week, though.


----------



## EatenByLimestone (May 2, 2018)

I never had much luck with peppers.  Last year I read that their ideal soil temperature is something like 85F.  That's considered a pretty hot day here.  I doubt the soil gets close to that a couple inches down.


----------



## peakbagger (May 2, 2018)

Considering I looked out at fresh snow on the summits near my home, it may be few weeks before the soil dries out. This years plan is to try "garden mats". These are a geotextile mats with holes cut in them for the plants. They are supposed to keep the weeds down, warm up the soils and cut down moisture loss from my soaker hoses.


----------



## EatenByLimestone (May 2, 2018)

I gathered extra leaves to attempt something new like that.  After the plants become established I'll put a layer around them.   It's worked with mulch in the past, but free and local... off my street, deserves attention.    Grass clippings and leaves prepared a spot where i plan to put in a new asparagus and strawberry bed later this month when my plantlets arrive.


----------



## DuaeGuttae (May 2, 2018)

EatenByLimestone said:


> I never had much luck with peppers.  Last year I read that their ideal soil temperature is something like 85F.  That's considered a pretty hot day here.  I doubt the soil gets close to that a couple inches down.



Maybe I’ll have a bumper crop then (not really since I only planted a few anyway).  I think soil temps average 85 by early July here.  I’m actually worried that my garden area might get too much sun, something I’ve never been concerned about before.


----------



## DuaeGuttae (May 2, 2018)

EatenByLimestone said:


> I gathered extra leaves to attempt something new like that.  After the plants become established I'll put a layer around them.   It's worked with mulch in the past, but free and local... off my street, deserves attention.    Grass clippings and leaves prepared a spot where i plan to put in a new asparagus and strawberry bed later this month when my plantlets arrive.



I have many childhood memories of asparagus and strawberries from my mother’s garden.  She fed us from that garden year-round (canning, freezing, and drying).  I think those are great choices in a home garden.


----------



## EatenByLimestone (May 3, 2018)

I covered over my old asparagus bed last year.  I wanted to use the area for more regular garden space.   The new bed will be on the other side of the lawn so it'll be easier to ignore once harvest is over.  I've seen plenty of it growing up wild in the woods, so the leaves will be able to feed it and keep weeds down.


----------



## Chimney Smoke (May 3, 2018)

I turned over and fertilized half of my garden beds yesterday.  Need to do the rest and add some fresh compost on top this weekend.  My brocolli starts will likely get planted this weekend.  I was pretty surprised to see the first couple asparagus poking out yesterday.  Got lots of pepper and tomato seedlings under the lights but I'll probably start leaving them outside now that temps look to stay in the 60's during the day.


----------



## begreen (May 3, 2018)

Yes, it's asparagus time. I picked about a dozen spears yesterday. They kind of surprised me. A couple were 18" tall. Whoops. Will check them daily now.


----------



## Dobish (May 3, 2018)

i need to plant asparagrass. I used to have some at the old place, and it was finally ready to eat the year we moved out.
My poppies and my peonies are popping though!


----------



## EatenByLimestone (May 3, 2018)

Awesome!


----------



## begreen (May 4, 2018)

All our warm weather plants are in the ground now. It's make it or break it time. I have some duplicates in the greenhouse if we get a bad chill, but so far the forecast looks promising.


----------



## begreen (May 5, 2018)

Corn's up! Yay!






Raised beds are starting to wake up.


----------



## Chimney Smoke (May 6, 2018)

I got two yards of compost mixed into the beds yesterday.  The brocolli will be planted in the next day or two and most everything else won't be far behind.  The extended forecast finally looks like it should.


----------



## Tegbert (May 7, 2018)

begreen said:


> Corn's up! Yay!
> 
> View attachment 226445
> View attachment 226446
> ...



What is on the ground around your raised beds?


Lopi Rockport
Blaze King Ashford 25


----------



## EatenByLimestone (May 8, 2018)

If I remember correctly, he uses landscape fabric.

First harvest from the garden this  morning!   Chives for eggs!

I can get some kale too.      Hopefully salad greens will be ready by the end of the week!


----------



## begreen (May 8, 2018)

Yes, commercial landscape fabric. Pretty heavy stuff, though after 8 yrs it's starting to show wear.


----------



## Chimney Smoke (May 9, 2018)

My brocolli seedlings got planted yesterday.  Now I need to plan the rest of my layout of what's going where and get some seeds in the ground.


----------



## Dobish (May 11, 2018)

i put in 2 snap pea plants, and 1 tomato plant yesterday. The flowers are blowing up right now though!  I have so many dandelions!

Also, my irises are doing quite nicely, as are my snow in summer.



I am also going to be moving the garden out back here, so i can look at the wood pile when I am gardening


----------



## EatenByLimestone (May 11, 2018)

I'm almost all in.   My new strawberries arrived and I need to get a load of compost for the beds.


----------



## Dobish (May 15, 2018)

I figured out that ole rusty can make it up the hill with a truck full of dirt...




and one of the garden... watermelon, cucumbers, patty pan, zuchinni, eggplant, 4 types of peppers, 3 types of tomatoes.   The spinaches, lettuces, herbs, radishes, beets and onions will probably go in the front of the house in pots...


----------



## EatenByLimestone (May 15, 2018)

Excellent!   The gardens are waking up!


----------



## Chimney Smoke (May 16, 2018)

This is the first year I've been able to pick more than a few spears of asparagus.  I picked a pound today and it was only 8 stalks.  They are huge and they are awesome.


----------



## EatenByLimestone (May 16, 2018)

I have a couple spears coming up from the bed I buried last year.  I wanted to get rid of the weeds and use the space for leafy greens.   I started another bed with 50 purple passions this year on the other side of my lawn.  I don't think I'm going to harvest anything from the old bed.   Some are under 10" of new soil!  I'll let them store up some energy.


----------



## EatenByLimestone (May 22, 2018)

Sweet potato slips came in the mail yesterday, met the soil this morning.   I think that pretty much rounds out the garden for this year.   There's a little open space left for leafy greens and a second planting of beans.  

I have a single Roma tomato on the vine already!  

The leaves stored and used as mulch seem to be working really well keeping weeds down and soil moist.  I threw a layer over the bean patch and they sprouted almost immediately.

I think it's going to be a good year with lots of lessons!


----------



## begreen (May 22, 2018)

Wow, you have pole vaulted past us. We have some tomatoes in bloom, but none with fruit yet. When did you start the Roma?


----------



## EatenByLimestone (May 22, 2018)

I started San Marzano and some grapes (I'd have to look up the variety.) on 3/1.  They are decent sized, but I dont think i've seen any blossoms on them yet.  The Romas were bought at the local box because they were on sale and I was shocked to see them for sale in April.  I mentioned them on another board as in the ground at 7am on May 1, so they were planted in late April.   

They're buried pretty deep.  I remember hitting rocks when digging the hole for them.  The bottom of the plant is like 10" below the soil since it's a 2x10 raised bed.  They probably have a great root base pushing them.


----------



## EatenByLimestone (May 22, 2018)

It's a weird year.  I looked at my peas and have some brand new sprouts that popped up in the last few days.  

Memorial Day is the traditional garden in day here.  Last frost date is May 8.


----------



## begreen (May 23, 2018)

Our greenhouse Early Girl is over 3' tall and looking good, but only blossoms so far.


----------



## EatenByLimestone (May 23, 2018)

There are 2 tomatoes!


----------



## DuaeGuttae (May 25, 2018)

EatenByLimestone said:


> View attachment 226878
> View attachment 226879
> 
> 
> There are 2 tomatoes!



Wow!

A neighbor came over today and looked at my garden.  He said we needed to get more shade in the next couple of weeks or our tomatoes wouldn't set fruit.  He was excited by the cucumbers, though, and was helping me think through getting my trellises set up to grow them vertically.  I would normally pound rebar into the ground and slip the frame over, but pounding rebar into the ground is more difficult when there is no soil only rock. I started on it but couldn't get one side down far enough.  I need to reposition and ask my husband to use the sledgehammer, I think.

I also saw aphids on a bit of dill.  I pulled those plants up, but I'm sure there will be more.  I wish they would stay on the milkweed (a favorite of theirs) and not come to my little garden.


----------



## begreen (May 25, 2018)

I checked this afternoon. No tomatoes yet on our romas, but there is a little one on our early girl! Yay.


----------



## EatenByLimestone (May 25, 2018)

I am going to try to grow tomatoes in the shade for the first time this year.   Previously I always put them in 100% sun.   You can increase the chances of pollination by tapping the flowers with your finger.  You're doing the bee's job.    Tomatoes flowers can and often self pollinate.  Don't be afraid to really vibrate them!   You can tap them hard enough they are going back and forth an inch.   

Last year I grew cucumbers in the shade, and used a tree as a trellis.   If you can't get poles driven in, you could probably wrap them along lines leading to a tree, house, etc.   





Woohoo!   Early starts to the tomato season!


----------



## begreen (May 25, 2018)

First tomatoes. In the greenhouse, Early Girl.


----------



## EatenByLimestone (May 26, 2018)

Nice!


----------



## begreen (May 26, 2018)

I suspect it will be a couple weeks for the outdoor tomatoes to catch up. They have blossoms, but we are in a cool spell with daytime highs between 60 and 70 and nighttime temps in the low 50's. Our heat loving plants want warmer feet and won't really be happy until nighttime temps are in the 60's. This is also leading to slow germination of some seeds like beans planted outdoors. Potatoes, broccoli, greens on the other hand are growing quickly.


----------



## Chimney Smoke (May 26, 2018)

You guys have tomatoes already and I just put my seedlings out this week.  Got everything planted except squash, one the seedlings have a true leaf started I'll transplant them.


----------



## EatenByLimestone (May 27, 2018)

It's probably the first time I've ever had tomatoes this far along this early.   I'm going to get cold tunnels up this fall.  I'd like to extend my growing season out further.


----------



## begreen (May 27, 2018)

To my surprise I discovered our outdoor early girl also has sprouted a new tomato. Let the season begin! It's a amazing how much things have grown in the past 3 weeks.


----------



## EatenByLimestone (May 29, 2018)

Harvested a large collander full of leafy greens for salad tonight. The wife was furiously trying to wash the freckled romaine lettuce and didn't believe me that it was supposed to be that way until I showed her the seed packet. 
	

		
			
		

		
	





	

		
			
		

		
	
 she refuses salad dressing, so it was too bitter for her. I liked it though! 

I think most of America is used to taste less food. Too much iceberg lattice and red delicious apples are sold.


----------



## begreen (May 29, 2018)

LOL I can honestly say we have never had a head of iceberg lettuce in the house and neither of us likes delicious apples.


----------



## EatenByLimestone (May 29, 2018)

When I looked through my seed packets for the wife I came upon the small tomato variety that I planted under the tree.  They are "Sweetie" tomatoes.   I'm getting blossoms on them now.  

Supposedly they do well in the shade.  Some are under the peach tree, some are in full sun.


----------



## begreen (May 30, 2018)

EatenByLimestone said:


> When I looked through my seed packets for the wife I came upon the small tomato variety that I planted under the tree.  They are "Sweetie" tomatoes.   I'm getting blossoms on them now.
> 
> Supposedly they do well in the shade.  Some are under the peach tree, some are in full sun.


Good to know, I have a bed that gets afternoon shade that I have not planted tomatoes in. I'll be curious about what you think of Sweetie.


----------



## EatenByLimestone (May 31, 2018)

I'll let you know.  I'll give you my kid's take.  I'm not a huge fan of uncooked tomatoes.  Never understood why though.  I'm all over cooked ones.


----------



## begreen (May 31, 2018)

EatenByLimestone said:


> I'll let you know.  I'll give you my kid's take.  I'm not a huge fan of uncooked tomatoes.  Never understood why though.  I'm all over cooked ones.


Different taste receptors and maybe personal history. My youngest son doesn't like tomato anything. He's sensitive to most acidic foods.


----------



## EatenByLimestone (Jun 1, 2018)




----------



## EatenByLimestone (Jun 1, 2018)




----------



## EatenByLimestone (Jun 2, 2018)

One of the YouTube channels I follow just put up a time lapse of May in his garden.   Check out his content.   I've learned a lot from him.


----------



## Dobish (Jun 25, 2018)

well, I used to have a garden.  Hail came through really quick yesterday. The only thing that may have made it was 1 zuchinni plant, the lemon tree, and the lime tree, and 1 tomato that was in the front.


----------



## begreen (Jun 25, 2018)

Bummer. I read about that storm. There were some areas with hail larger than golf balls.


----------



## Dobish (Jun 25, 2018)

there was a storm a week or so ago that had softball sized hail. with this one, most of the hail was chickpea sized. It shredded my grill cover too!


----------



## begreen (Jun 25, 2018)

Ah, maybe that was the one I read about. I winced thinking about our solar panels in a storm like that.


----------



## fbelec (Jun 26, 2018)

bummer sorry to hear that


----------



## begreen (Jun 26, 2018)

The garden is now starting to produce regularly. We are picking zucchinis, peas, early carrots, spinach, lettuce, broccoli, basil and strawberries.  The asparagus are done for the year. Corn will definitely be more than knee high by the 4th of July.


----------



## fbelec (Jun 27, 2018)

there is one veg i never planted was carrots. i eat them like candy. i never tried because the soil has to prepared different? how do you prepare your soil for growing carrots?


----------



## begreen (Jun 27, 2018)

Mostly get the rocks out so the carrots can set deep roots. Add some compost and fertilizer as needed. Other than that they get normal garden prep.


----------



## Dobish (Jun 27, 2018)

fbelec said:


> there is one veg i never planted was carrots. i eat them like candy. i never tried because the soil has to prepared different? how do you prepare your soil for growing carrots?


Depending on the soil that you have, i have found that adding in a bit of sand can help with carrots and beets.


----------



## begreen (Jun 27, 2018)

Dobish said:


> Depending on the soil that you have, i have found that adding in a bit of sand can help with carrots and beets.


Yes, good point. Carrots grow best in a looser soil. If the soil has a lot of clay then adding a lot of compost and some sand to loosen up the soil to a depth of at least 12" will make a big difference.


----------



## Dobish (Jun 28, 2018)

Red hot poker bloomed....


----------



## fbelec (Jun 29, 2018)

thanks. the soil here packs like concrete


----------



## Doug MacIVER (Jun 29, 2018)

a little off topic, but you do see this everywhere, from a tweet by NECN Meteo Tim Kelly.



 *Tim Kelley NBC10 Boston*‏Verified account @*TimNBCBoston* 8m8 minutes ago
Anthropogenic rainbow.
Because we only had an inch and a half of rain yesterday, thought the flowers might need another boost this morning


----------



## venator260 (Jun 29, 2018)

Dobish said:


> Depending on the soil that you have, i have found that adding in a bit of sand can help with carrots and beets.




My garden is mostly clay. Last year I tilled in some compost and grew a shorter carrot (Danvers) to deal with the soil structure. The ones that weren't too crowded grew well. This year, I tried pelleted seed and planting them with appropriate spacing. Went on vacation for a week and came back to mostly weeds with carrots poking through here and there. Tried to weed it, and ended up pulling most of the carrots.


----------



## begreen (Jun 30, 2018)

Keep working more compost into the soil. It does great things for clay based soil. If the clay soil is deep, dig out a 1' deep trench placing the soil at the end of the trench. Take a pitchfork and loosen the soil in the trench adding compost to the hole, backfill with a mix of the soil removed from the trench and more compost + some appropriate fertilizer. 

 I direct sow using a little hand seeder so that I don't spill out  too many seeds at once. Start thinning them out when they are a few inches tall and keep on thinning them as they grow up.


----------



## begreen (Jul 1, 2018)

Almost ready


----------



## Dobish (Jul 3, 2018)

begreen said:


> Almost ready
> View attachment 227591
> View attachment 227592



Looking good! I was up in your neck of the woods this past weekend, and was jealous of all of the green and the gardens!


----------



## mass_burner (Jul 5, 2018)

New invasive around here showed up this year. Purple stripe at the broadest part of the leaf.


----------



## begreen (Jul 5, 2018)

Corn is over waist high by the 4th of July. Won't be long now.


----------



## begreen (Jul 5, 2018)

mass_burner said:


> New invasive around here showed up this year. Purple stripe at the broadest part of the leaf.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Looks like that may be knotweed also called smartweed. If you have chickens I've read they like it. Fortunately it pulls out easily.


----------



## begreen (Jul 5, 2018)

While we're looking at weeds I thought this was an interesting thing to see while in a field the other day.


----------



## fbelec (Jul 5, 2018)

bg any idea what they are? the plant also?


----------



## mass_burner (Jul 6, 2018)

It's interesting what pops up around the yard. This was growing under a Japanese Andromeda.


----------



## begreen (Jul 6, 2018)

fbelec said:


> bg any idea what they are? the plant also?


They are cinnabar moth caterpillars on tansy. Both are not native to the US. Tansy is toxic to grazing livestock. It has become widespread in parts of the west and is considered an invasive, noxious weed. To help eradicate it cinnabar moths were imported. They love this plant and become toxic which helps protect them as they grow. Interesting to note that the cuckoo seems to have an immunity to the toxin. This is the moth.


----------



## Dobish (Jul 13, 2018)

i have 1 red pepper, one tiny zuchinni, 1 red tomato and 1 bean!


----------



## begreen (Jul 13, 2018)

Yay, you are starting to get ahead of us. I got the green beans in late but they were doing great until a momma deer and child broke into the upper garden. They did a number on the raspberries and beans. The fence is now mended. Fortunately we have second patches that so far are untouched. We've been getting steady zucchinis and early carrots, but no peppers yet. Some cherry tomatoes have been pickable, but no big ones yet.


----------



## Dobish (Jul 13, 2018)

i'm just happy I was able to yield anything after the hail storm.


----------



## fbelec (Jul 14, 2018)

Dobish said:


> i'm just happy I was able to yield anything after the hail storm.



did you lose anything?


----------



## Dobish (Jul 16, 2018)

fbelec said:


> did you lose anything?


a cucumber, a tomato plant, a bell pepper plant, and all of my lettuces. The only plant that had anything on it besides stalks was the zuchinni.


----------



## fbelec (Jul 16, 2018)

great that you didn't lose the whole thing. i would have figured the zuc would have the biggest hit.


----------



## vinny11950 (Jul 22, 2018)

This year I lost most of my tiger lilies to a tiny red beetle and the larvae it lays on the leaves.  It was a real disappointment, usually I get big flowers.


----------



## Dobish (Jul 24, 2018)

well, i guess my tiny zuchini got a little bigger over the weekend!


----------



## begreen (Jul 24, 2018)

LOL, you don't want to ignore a zucchini plant. We pick ours every morning. Big fellows like that one become bread, muffins, etc. or they might end up in the back of someone's convertible in the grocery store parking lot.


----------



## Dobish (Jul 25, 2018)

these little buggers are eating my zuchinnis...


but I have a watermelon!


----------



## Tegbert (Jul 25, 2018)

What are you guys using for watering your gardens? I have six raised beds all on a timer using soaker hoses cause without them they would be dead as the wife will forget to do it and it’s convenient. But the hoses are springing leaks left and right and being only two years old. 

They are just setting on top of the soil so that may have a factor in it but it’s is easy to remove to till and what not when the time comes. 


Lopi Rockport
Blaze King Ashford 25


----------



## begreen (Jul 25, 2018)

When we first move here I tried soaker hoses, a lot of them. They all failed after a season. The worst problem for us was the pores clogged and things were not getting enough water. Now I only use drip irrigation. Before I put in our raised beds I plumbed a zoned water supply to the beds with risers coming up where the future beds would be. Then the trenches were backfilled, area leveled, landscape fabric put down and the raised beds installed. I have a header at the end of each bed which has drip irrigation tubing coming off it it. This is all on a commercial rainbird timer. Works like a charm. I also have drip tape irrigation in our in-ground beds. These systems are on a simple dial mechanical timer. Each system has a filter and a pressure regulator on it. This really helps with longevity and proper flow. Our raised beds have been on this system for 8 yrs. now. In ground beds for 20 yrs, though I just replaced the drip tape last year.

www.dripworks.com


----------



## Tegbert (Jul 25, 2018)

I just rand a water line to our garden area and to connect the shop water for the chickens. Right now it is connected to a hydrant with a 4 zone timer and water lines ran to each bed. So adding a rain bird or similar timer to risers would be doable and more aesthetically pleasing. 

Looks like I might be switching it out again. What emitters do you use? Drippers or ones that spray? And how many and how far apart are they?


Lopi Rockport
Blaze King Ashford 25


----------



## Tegbert (Jul 25, 2018)

Never mind I guess I should comprehend what you said you used. Drip tape got it. 


Lopi Rockport
Blaze King Ashford 25


----------



## begreen (Jul 25, 2018)

Our beds are 4 ft wide. Drip lines or drip tape is much more effective depending on the bed size and length. For our 14' x 4' raised beds I use two loops of driplines per bed. No top spraying emitters used.


----------



## fbelec (Jul 26, 2018)

dobish that zucchini plant will be dead soon. that black spot on the picture that in the middle bottom on a leader is a hole eaten by white moths they lay a egg in there and the larvae eats the plant from the inside out. soak the plant down with some insecticidal soap heavy. that same moth killed my zucchini pumpkin and watermelon. that leader will turn yellow and it goes from there


----------



## begreen (Jul 26, 2018)

We are finally getting a steady supply of tomatoes. Unfortunately our watermelon looks pathetic with little growth since being planted from a start in a pot. We do have a couple baby cantaloupes that are doing better.  Corn is about a week away for the first picking.


----------



## mass_burner (Jul 28, 2018)

2 solid months here in NE. I have 2 beds empty, after harvest potatoes. What can I grow in that time?

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk


----------



## EatenByLimestone (Jul 28, 2018)

Beans, broccoli, radishes, lettice... lots of things.

Maybe you can start planting a fall garden.


----------



## Dobish (Jul 30, 2018)

mass_burner said:


> 2 solid months here in NE. I have 2 beds empty, after harvest potatoes. What can I grow in that time?
> 
> Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk


beets are a great option too!


----------



## begreen (Jul 30, 2018)

Fall carrots too.


----------



## fbelec (Aug 1, 2018)

beet greens taste like spinach


----------



## Dobish (Aug 1, 2018)

fbelec said:


> beet greens taste like spinach


we use beet tops, and radish tops in our salads and sautes. They are great additions to the greens. I keep sayng i'm going to get the fall garden going, but not sure where i'm going to put it yet... 

i do have 2 watermelons on my plant, and 1 less zuchini plant to mess with. (i tore it out after the bug infestation.)


----------



## begreen (Aug 2, 2018)

Lots of sauce tomatoes ripening. There is another row behind them. Also, an onion picked from a test garden I am managing. Biggest red onion I have ever grown.


----------



## fbelec (Aug 3, 2018)

wow nice onion. that's good on a burger or potato salad and olive oil no mayo


----------



## begreen (Aug 3, 2018)

Yes, it's going to be hard to cut into this onion, it's so good looking.

Sauce tomatoes are starting to ripen nicely now. We are going to have a lot of them. There is another row behind this one.


----------



## Dobish (Aug 22, 2018)




----------



## begreen (Aug 22, 2018)

Brandy Boy - who says you can't grow big tomatoes in the NW?


----------



## fbelec (Aug 23, 2018)

Dobish said:


> View attachment 228957



in the picture what is the top right
nice tomato bg that would have been just that for a sandwich with a little olive oil and salt


----------



## fbelec (Aug 23, 2018)

bg what kind of eggplant is that


----------



## Dobish (Aug 23, 2018)

fbelec said:


> in the picture what is the top right
> nice tomato bg that would have been just that for a sandwich with a little olive oil and salt


Patty pan squash. Super tasty


----------



## fbelec (Aug 23, 2018)

what does it taste like?  i know squash.


----------



## Dobish (Aug 23, 2018)

It is like a meaty squash. Sort of like a yellow squash or zuchinni, but more dense. Roasted or sauteed is great,  grilled thinly sliced pieces are fantastic.  Less moisture than other squash.


----------



## fbelec (Aug 23, 2018)

that sounds great. my mom when i was a kids used to make zucchini parm. made like a eggplant parm but sweeter. that squash sounds like a candidate for a parm


----------



## Dobish (Aug 23, 2018)

fbelec said:


> that sounds great. my mom when i was a kids used to make zucchini parm. made like a eggplant parm but sweeter. that squash sounds like a candidate for a parm


Yes, it sure is!


----------



## begreen (Aug 24, 2018)

fbelec said:


> bg what kind of eggplant is that


Two types there. Megal (French variety) has the rounded bottom and the pointy end eggplant is Shikou. We grow the megal every year. It's tasty and never bitter on the ends. Normally we also grow ichiban, but this year I couldn't find one so I bought the shikou. It's been fine and a good producer, but smaller eggplants than ichiban. We also have a standard black beauty eggplant and a mystery Syrian eggplant.


----------



## begreen (Aug 31, 2018)

Brussel sprouts are looking good. I just cut off the terminator buds and lower leaves. This is our 4th carrot harvest. There are 3 more succession plantings in the ground. Onions have been harvested and the tops are drying out. My wife has made a couple batches of tomato sauce, with a few more coming.


----------



## mass_burner (Sep 29, 2018)

I've made 5 tall mason jars of super hot salsa, with Cayenne and tomatoes. Only green tomatoes left, I don't think they'll make it with the time left. I'm going to try and continue the two Cayenne pepper plants indoors, but not having a warm and sunny spot indoors, I don't have much hope. 

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk


----------



## begreen (Sep 30, 2018)

We're busy making lots of tomato sauce and canning it. Things have slowed down a lot now, but we still have some harvesting to do of #4&5 plantings of carrots, a few cukes, eggplants, peppers and tomatoes. Fall plantings of beets, carrots (#6) and lettuce are in. I will plant some spinach tomorrow.


----------



## AlbergSteve (Nov 8, 2018)

begreen said:


> We're busy making lots of tomato sauce and canning it. Things have slowed down a lot now, but we still have some harvesting to do of #4&5 plantings of carrots, a few cukes, eggplants, peppers and tomatoes. Fall plantings of beets, carrots (#6) and lettuce are in. I will plant some spinach tomorrow.


Got your garlic in yet? We're planting about 800 this year to get our seed stock up.


----------



## Chimney Smoke (Nov 8, 2018)

I'm trying garlic this year for the first time.  Nothing like that though, I have three 8 foot rows planted.


----------



## begreen (Nov 8, 2018)

AlbergSteve said:


> Got your garlic in yet? We're planting about 800 this year to get our seed stock up.
> View attachment 232709


That's pretty serious. Ours is not in yet. Still cleaning up beds. The tradition is to plant it on the shortest day of the year and harvest it on the longest day. I guess it gives it more vampire repelling power that way.


----------



## EatenByLimestone (Nov 10, 2018)

My garlic has been in for a few weeks.   4 different types of hardneck.


----------



## mass_burner (Nov 11, 2018)

I potted 2 of my Cayenne pepper plants and they have been in the patio for ~30 days now. They are southeast facing behind glass sliders. They aren't dying, but the leaves look a little droopy. Is the patio still too cold for them?


----------



## EatenByLimestone (Nov 11, 2018)

How cold are they at night?   I bet it's more of a water issue.  You cut roots to get them into the pots and all those leaves are still transpiring.


----------



## mass_burner (Nov 11, 2018)

Its about 45 at coldest point, I'll put a thermometer there that measures the coldest recent temp and report back. The patio is surrounded by 5 sliders, new double pained glass. The top of the soil isn't drying out, I found that odd. But it does seem to need water despite that. I'll try to water more. 

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk


----------



## EatenByLimestone (Nov 11, 2018)

45 doesn't seem like it would be bothering them.  Maybe it's just stressed from the move.


----------



## begreen (Nov 11, 2018)

We had a first happen last week in our greenhouse. There are carrots, basil and a big tomato still growing there. All of a sudden half of the carrots were stripped of their greens. We looked all over and could not find why. Then a couple days later, more carrots were stripped and one of the basil plants was reduced down to stems. By chance I saw a caterpillar on the door and knew that somehow cutworms were at work. They have voracious appetites but come out at dusk/dawn to feed so we were missing them. The next day I went out at dusk and found 4 more, one was a big sucker. I even found one buried in a tomato. At this point I think I have them all now, but the damage is done.


----------



## begreen (Nov 11, 2018)

EatenByLimestone said:


> 45 doesn't seem like it would be bothering them.  Maybe it's just stressed from the move.


I think you hit the nail on the head with root loss when transplanted. Mature plants don't particularly like that. It may take a week or two for it to adjust and there likely will be some leaf drop. A better plan next year is to grow a couple peppers in large pots to start with. Maybe try thai peppers. They are a smaller plant and the thai peppers have better flavor. They also dry nicely.


----------



## mass_burner (Nov 11, 2018)

Are Thai pepper hotter? 

Thanks for the tip. 





begreen said:


> I think you hit the nail on the head with root loss when transplanted. Mature plants don't particularly like that. It may take a week or two for it to adjust and there likely will be some leaf drop. A better plan next year is to grow a couple peppers in large pots to start with. Maybe try thai peppers. They are a smaller plant and the thai peppers have better flavor. They also dry nicely.



Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk


----------



## EatenByLimestone (Nov 11, 2018)

The hard part with growing in pots is it takes so much water.  They need care every day!


----------



## begreen (Nov 11, 2018)

mass_burner said:


> Are Thai pepper hotter?
> 
> Thanks for the tip.
> 
> Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk


Yes, they can be quite hot and they grow well in pots. It might be just me but  I'm not fond of cayenne flavor. In the garden if high heat + flavor is the goal also try seranos and habeñero. We grow jalepeño and seranos for fresh salsas. but in the winter we use the dried thai peppers for heat + taste.
https://www.thekitchn.com/a-guide-to-common-hot-peppers-ingredient-intelligence-206412


----------



## EatenByLimestone (Nov 11, 2018)

I just took down the new asparagus bed.   Lots of weeds came up.    Tomorrow I'll run the mower over the leaves and give it a good mulching and fertilizing to drown out the weeds.  I used the county compost.   I think I've used the last of it.   It doesn't get hot enough, and or sit long enough to kill the seeds.


----------



## mass_burner (Nov 11, 2018)

begreen said:


> Yes, they can be quite hot and they grow well in pots. It might be just me but  I'm not fond of cayenne flavor. In the garden if high heat + flavor is the goal also try seranos and habeñero. We grow jalepeño and seranos for fresh salsas. but in the winter we use the dried thai peppers for heat + taste.
> https://www.thekitchn.com/a-guide-to-common-hot-peppers-ingredient-intelligence-206412


I'll get some Thai at the market and try. I'm not a fan if habenero flavor, they are hot though. Jalapeño isn't hot at all to me. 

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk


----------



## begreen (Nov 11, 2018)

Yes, jalapeno heat can vary a lot. We have had some plants that were too mild and some that were pretty darn hot. Get some serranos too and try them out. They have jalapeno like flavor with more heat. Another easy to grow hot pepper is the Bulgarian Carrot. They have quite a kick and will grow ok in a big pot.


----------



## mass_burner (Nov 29, 2018)

begreen said:


> Yes, jalapeno heat can vary a lot. We have had some plants that were too mild and some that were pretty darn hot. Get some serranos too and try them out. They have jalapeno like flavor with more heat. Another easy to grow hot pepper is the Bulgarian Carrot. They have quite a kick and will grow ok in a big pot.



it doesn't look like the cayenne plants are acclimating to the colder room. i'll ask around to see if someone who has a sunny warm place wants them.


----------



## begreen (Nov 29, 2018)

It's going to be time for a new thread soon. We've received 5 seed catalogs this week.


----------



## AlbergSteve (Nov 30, 2018)

Planted nine apple trees last night...



Then covered them before the deer thought it was buffet night...



...and tomorrow I'm planting these to keep the deer out. Going to be a busy weekend.


----------



## begreen (Nov 30, 2018)

Nice! What varieties?


----------



## EatenByLimestone (Nov 30, 2018)

Ditto!  Looking to get a couple trees in myself!


----------



## AlbergSteve (Dec 1, 2018)

begreen said:


> Nice! What varieties?


Nova Spy, NorKent, Wealthy, Wynoochee Early, Nova EasyGro, Golden Nugget,  Holstein and Wickson. We have plans for another 20 in the spring.


----------



## AlbergSteve (Dec 1, 2018)

Planted 40 of these in two hours yesterday....


----------



## Easy Livin’ 3000 (Dec 1, 2018)

AlbergSteve said:


> Planted 40 of these in two hours yesterday....
> 
> View attachment 234545


That's the way to do it.


----------



## AlbergSteve (Dec 1, 2018)

ED 3000 said:


> That's the way to do it.


And only 60 more to go!


----------



## begreen (Dec 2, 2018)

Are you getting into the orchard business? Cider making?


----------



## AlbergSteve (Dec 2, 2018)

Cider for sure. The next plantings in the spring will include more cider specific apple trees. At our last place we had one large Mutsu that would yield a couple hundred pounds, and another 6-8 assorted dwarf espaliered trees that we'd get another 200 pounds that we'd take to the local_* U-brew*_ that had made fruit wine and cider a big part of their business. The 2-300 pounds of windfalls we'd take the neighbour to finish his pigs off in the fall and get a bit of bacon or a roast in return. I've been home brewing off and on for quite a few years and I'm hoping to convert a small area of my shop to a brewroom. We're also hoping as the "farm" develops to do some farm gate sales and maybe I can fully "retire" to hobby farming.


----------



## begreen (Dec 2, 2018)

We have a couple very old King apple trees that I cherish. It's a great apple, good keeper, good for pie and eating. And it makes great cider. From these old trees we harvested about 500 pounds of big apples and there were a lot left. We donated them to our local fruit club and they picked another 500#. Which reminds me, I need to bottle that cider!


----------



## AlbergSteve (Dec 2, 2018)

Kings are on the list...


----------



## begreen (Dec 2, 2018)

Gravenstein makes a nice addition for cider. We have one that I am pruning to make it produce more and to be easier to pick. So far it is working. In a couple years it should have a much nicer shape.


----------



## Perfect Plants (Dec 11, 2018)

We like the anna apple: https://myperfectplants.com/product/anna-apple-tree/


----------



## DuaeGuttae (Dec 22, 2018)

It’s still 2018, so I thought I could add to this thread.

My husband kindly planted some garlic for me today.  It was 78 degrees and definitely does not seem like winter.  

My daughters and I harvested eighteen dozen (more) mandarins today.  I have a crock pot cooking some for marmalade now.  We thought the tree was some sort of citrus when we bought the house last fall, but it had no fruit last year.  We’ve been amazed this year at what is has produced.  Here’s a shot of one small section.


----------



## AlbergSteve (Jan 1, 2019)

Having a few trees fall in your yard is not so bad, lots of chips for the garden!


----------



## begreen (Jan 4, 2019)

Closing this thread. It's time for the 2019 Garden thread!


----------

