2017 Gardening thread!

[EatenByLimestone]

I just looked at the tree as the bloom is done. Lots of little peaches! Woohoo!

I fertilized yesterday. Well, I did a little. When you look at the fertilization programs that are recommended they say to pour it on! Like 10 lbs of fertilizer a year! I maybe put a pound or 2 out. I should bring my ground probe back from camp and make cores to fill with fertilizer.

The wife wants to can them vs freezing. I'm not sure if she realizes the difference in work load. We'll see. Come fall, there might be a lot going on!

 

[Dobish]

this was last night's project. Of course this morning I woke up to 3" of snow, and it is still coming down. I had to go out and rework with some extra pieces of plywood to keep the weight off, and I may have lost a pepper plant.

I wasn't able to cover my cherry tree, apricot stick, or peach tree, so we will see what happens with those... I also have a truck full of compost that is getting very heavy right now too!

 

[EatenByLimestone]

Ouch. That's rough weather!

I picked up a roll of landscape fabric so I can copy begreen. It just looks so clean and low maintenance.

 

[Dobish]

so we got snow!


It looks like everything made it but maybe the eggplant and one of the basil plants. One of the planter boxes collapsed off the side of the deck yesterday, but I was able to salvage the rosemary and the oregano I think.

 

[EatenByLimestone]

Holy crap!

 

[Dobish]

that was before it snowed all day!

 

[begreen]

Looks like a greenhouse with some strong snow shedding ability is needed for such fickle weather.

 

[Dobish]

I have some good news.... the cinnamon basil I thought I lost has a few leaves coming off of it! Also, my Apricot tree that i was pretty sure was dead has a few more leaves sticking up!

I need to get a few more pictures of the flowers now that they are starting to come out... hopefully tonight i can build the rest of the raised beds so i can get the beets, carrots, and the rest of the lettuces in there....

 

[begreen]

Got green beans in today, the gardens are finally fully planted. It's been a late start this year. Cukes are just forming and corn is only a few inches tall. The tomatoes look happy and have their first flowers.

 

[Montanalocal]

A double whammy.

Sat a frost, then last night a hail storm. Looks like a trip to the nursery.

 

[begreen]

Aw, that's so sad.

 

[EatenByLimestone]

We had a hail storm a couple weeks ago. The plants were beaten up, but survived.

Almost got done in by a woodchuck with a taste for broccoli too.

It's been a tough year for gardens.

 

[semipro]

I picked up a load of horse manure mixed with wood shavings to use in the garden but held short after reading about herbicide residuals impacting garden production.
(broken link removed)
Now I'm wondering what to do with all this manure. I thought of extended composting or doing some test plantings.

I had a similar experience using wood chips as mulch in my garden one year. After ,mulch application, many of my plants were stunted or died. I later traced the problem to lots of Black Walnut content in the mulch. The Juglans (see reference below) content in Blackwalnut acts as a herbicide and apparently also impacts woodworkers exposed to sawdust.
http://hort.uwex.edu/articles/black-walnut-toxicity/

 

[Montanalocal]

You can do a bioassay. Take some very sensitive crops, such as tomatoes or beans, and plant them into pots of your manure. If they do not show signs of damage, such as curling leaves, then you probably will be OK.

 

[begreen]

The horse manure should be composted or aged at least a year so that it doesn't burn plants. The main herbicide that has shown up in horse manure is clopyralid. This is used to kill the canadian thistle in "weed free" timothy and hay" crops. If you want to test the manure, use beans or peas. They grow quickly and are very sensitive to this herbicide. Clopyralid soil will not grow beans well for 3-5 yrs. where this toxin is present.

We found this out the hard way in the late 90's and had to put up with poisoned beds for years in that area. Now it is banned in western WA, but unfortunately not in eastern WA where most of our hay comes from. Now, in spite of a glut of free horse manure available, we no longer use it. Bummer. If you know the horse(s) have only been fed local pasture grown hay then it might be ok.
http://www.seattlepi.com/lifestyle/...Beware-of-herbicide-laced-compost-1076881.php

Unfortunately, chem companies took the ban as a challenge and came up with new formulations with a slightly different name that wasn't banned (aminopyralid). They sold it to farmers in the Skagit Valley as a great new herbicide. The farmers used it to clear fields for their corn crops. Silage was fed to cows, cow manure was spread then next year. Guess what happened? An absolutely lousy corn crop followed that nearly wrecked some farms. Other crops that used cow manure were also decimated.
http://www.goskagit.com/news/whatco...cle_3c1c04e6-ec95-57c1-8682-82a9b7b7e8cb.html

 

[EatenByLimestone]

I've been reading about this too. I'm thinking of using my lawn clippings as mulch for the garden. There's nothing in it that I didn't apply.

 

[semipro]

I've used grass clippings as mulch and like them. I just don't like much collecting grass.
We don't apply anything to our lawn but my big butt on a mower so we're not to worried about contamination.

Around here farmers raise hay on their own land and the property of others for free or at some lease rate. Its a little scary though to think that the farmers could be applying persistent herbicides to someone's land without the owner's awareness. Its interesting too that stable owners spread the manure on their own hay fields, perhaps overloading the crop and soil with the herbicides if they're also sprayed.

 

[begreen]

Yes, we use our lawn clippings for mulch and compost. We have a bagger on the mower that makes collecting clippings easy. It's good for leaf pickup in the fall too.

 

[semipro]

Flea beetles made a mess of our eggplant. I applied some diatomaceous earth and that seems to control them but you have to reapply after rain or watering.

 

[begreen]

We had a lot of them the last two seasons, but so far not too bad this year. I squish as many as I can catch. Spraying them with a safer soap solution is effective at holding them down too.

 

[vikaspaul]

View attachment 197555
this was last night's project. Of course this morning I woke up to 3" of snow, and it is still coming down. I had to go out and rework with some extra pieces of plywood to keep the weight off, and I may have lost a pepper plant.

I wasn't able to cover my cherry tree, apricot stick, or peach tree, so we will see what happens with those... I also have a truck full of compost that is getting very heavy right now too!

The beauty of nature is that you can rework on it as many times as you can. Mother earth never say no. Best of luck for your endeavor.

 

[vikaspaul]

It's quiet frustrating

 

[Dobish]

well, things are coming along nicely! my lettuces are starting to come up, and I don't know what is happening with my chard. I might have to replant. I haven't gotten around to getting new beds built, that might be next year's project. I did get a new hose spigot run, so I can actually water effectively now!

I did find this guy when I was walking around the other day....

I think its some type of oak, but can't really tell...

 

[begreen]

We've just harvested our first cucumber in the greenhouse and small tomatoes are starting to show. Spinach is about done and corn is about 12-18" high. Lost two beds of strawberries due to raiding raccoons. First time that has happened in 23 yrs.. Needless to say my wife is not happy.