2022 Garden Thread

[Dan Freeman]

Perennial vegetables to plant this season

Dave Scandurra is a landscaper in Barnstable who focuses entirely on edible gardens. But instead of annuals that need to be put in from seed every spring, he prefers perennials — plants that keep coming back on their own.

www.capeandislands.org

I tried to grow sea kale, it didn’t take off. Someday I should buy more seeds. They had a huge shell on them. Got horseradish already.

Im surprised they didn’t mention good king Henry which is growing in a few places. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blitum_bonus-henricus

I tried to plant stuff in the beds to encourage fungi. It worked in some beds, not in others.

I never grew horseradish. I should give it a try. I like it. I never heard of King Henry. How did you stumble upon it?

 

[Dan Freeman]

I noticed at tractor supply that the price of 48" x 100ft metal mesh fencing went down, I bought 2 rolls for $100 ea ( yea I know its expensive) my idea it to prep and possibly plant a new vegetable garden (30x40) in the next few weeks, the long term plan is to shift the current garden to the new spot and then plant pare tree's at the current garden spot, The new spot seems easier to work and closer to my hose line for watering, sun light is about the same, soil drainage is about the same, its all about getting the soil ready for next year.

What size fencing? Are you talking about welded wire. If it is 2x4 opening and 4' high, that's a decent price.

 

[Dan Freeman]

Today, I got the "jumpers" to the wires across the two gates done, so the entire border of the food forest is now electrified. I also stated putting together the frame for the 10' windmill I bought for the food forest.

 

[DuaeGuttae]

@clancey , thank you for my beautiful pictures. Lantana and alliums.

My onions that bolted have white flowerheads like that on them. Since I didn’t chop them up last night, I put them all in a big container and put it on the dining room table. I told my husband that it was a very fancy flower arrangement for Mother’s Day.

@EatenByLimestone, I had heard of some of what the article mentioned but not Sea Kale or Good King Henry that you mentioned. I would think that rhubarb would work well in a perennial bed. I’m not sure if I’ll be able to grow it as a perennial down here or not, but at least I have two plants right now that haven’t died yet. This unusual heat we’re having right now might end up being too much for them. My sugar snap peas are shriveling up and falling over.

@Dan Freeman , I bet that feels good to have your fencing done. Congratulations. Ornamental (and some real) windmills are not uncommon down here. We enjoy seeing them.

@kennyp2339 , I’d love to hear more about your gardens, old and new.

 

[EatenByLimestone]

Just got home and looked outside. My bins that had kale and peas no longer have kale and peas. Somebody got them. I’ve been seeing some rabbits. Guess I’m going trapping.

 

[Dan Freeman]

Just got home and looked outside. My bins that had kale and peas no longer have kale and peas. Somebody got them. I’ve been seeing some rabbits. Guess I’m going trapping.

Sorry to hear that!

 

[Dobish]

In my usual fashion of making things more complicated than they have to be, we decided to keep the garden about the same as it was last year. We did add in a few new plants to the front, but that also meant completely redoing the entire sprinkler system. We did have some tulips for a little while though!
We also decided that while we were building the root cellars, we should put in some tiers.... slowly making progress on that, but we will have some more room for our tenants to have a garden. Pics to come shortly

 

[clancey]

I love Tulips and have some by my front door and I guess they were planted in such a way to bloom by Easter every year--but this year they were six days late in blooming. I have just three plants and that's all I want at this time for this is just a kind of a small hobby for me but it is sure nice learning about all these gardening tips and the people on here have real life time experience--not me for I put my first plant in the ground last year--one tomato plant but sure did enjoy it and everyone else I gave tomato's to said they were delicious and that made me feel good..Your tenants will love it even with one or two plants--good thinking...clancey

 

[Dan Freeman]

In my usual fashion of making things more complicated than they have to be, we decided to keep the garden about the same as it was last year. We did add in a few new plants to the front, but that also meant completely redoing the entire sprinkler system. We did have some tulips for a little while though! View attachment 295419
We also decided that while we were building the root cellars, we should put in some tiers.... slowly making progress on that, but we will have some more room for our tenants to have a garden. Pics to come shortly

Nice! I would be interested in hearing more about your root cellar. I want to build one.

 

[Dan Freeman]

Today, I got two of the tomato trellises built above their 4 x 8 raised beds.


I have two more to do tomorrow.

Here's a picture of the first 7x7 trellis for the side of the pergola for the Magnolia Vines. Unfortunately, two days after I planted the Magnolia Vines, we had a frost, and all the new growth died, but since they are OK in zones 3-8, they are putting out new shoots. You can barely see them in this picture.

 

[clancey]

That Food Forest us really beautiful and well laid out---nice---coming along...clancey

 

[EatenByLimestone]

Started the trapping and exclusion work today. Used a freshly scented trap. Should pick up the chuck fast.

 

[DuaeGuttae]

Started the trapping and exclusion work today. Used a freshly scented trap. Should pick up the chuck fast.

Good luck! How did you decide it was a woodchuck and not a rabbit?

We had a nice garden-related surprise this morning. Our neighbor whom we help out occasionally had noticed that my attempts at labeling my garlic varieties this winter had failed. Even permanent marker just disappeared. She decided to get me some plant labels and a special marker that is supposed to resist fading. My daughter was very excited about the marker, and so I let her write out the plant labels for me this morning instead of doing her normal handwriting practice. The ink is soluble with alcohol, so the tags are reusable. We‘ll see how the labels hold up.



I was also very happy to spot some baby beans on my plant this evening. It’s a new variety for me, and I wasn’t sure how it would fare in our hot summers, so I planted it in March, hoping to have it bloom when temperatures were more moderate. I worked in that it has been blooming this week when we should be having highs in the eighties. It failed in that we are having an excessive heat wave. Temperatures have come down a bit from the weekend, but it still looks like highs in the 90s instead of the 80s unfortunately. That made me all the more excited to spot the baby beans this evening. I hope the flowers will continue to set new beans in the coming weeks.

 

[Dan Freeman]

Nice clear writing on those tags!

I just bought some similar plant tags the other day. Usually, my tags fade in the sun, so this time instead of using a regular Sharpie, I bought a Sharpie Extreme is which supposed to hold up better to UV rays and weather elements.

Thumbs up on the baby beans!

 

[EatenByLimestone]

Good luck! How did you decide it was a woodchuck and not a rabbit?


View attachment 295427

My daughter saw him in the back yard. I did some fence maintenance and think I blocked the rabbits from coming in too.


These markers do a good job with the sun and will write on wet things.

Amazon.com : milwaukee permanent marker

www.amazon.com

 

[DuaeGuttae]

Just this morning I was walking across the “barren wasteland” (what we called the part of our property where our garden is when we moved in) with my youngest. I spotted what looked like an asparagus spear.

View attachment 294990

If a bird dropped a seed there in the past couple of years, would a new plant look like that? I thought they’d be tiny wispy ferny things? Any suggestions on what else this might be?

I’ve confirmed that the plant is not asparagus. It didn’t fern up quickly, so I was suspicious. I had kind of quit checking on it recently. Seeing it today confirmed that it was definitely something different. A picture match from the web indicates that it is a type of orchid that lives off mycorrhizal fungi in the soil (no chlorophyll to produce its own food). The flowers are really very beautiful, and it was quite a surprise.



(broken link removed)

 

[DuaeGuttae]

I finally processed my bolted onions before dinner tonight. I had left them too long, so the center stalk was hard and needed to be removed. Then I sliced them in the food processor and used some in a mushroom and onion sauce for pork and froze two pints. The red and white onions are mostly still standing, but my bed of yellow onions (Texas Legend) is mostly down at this point. They are supposed to be an early maturing variety. Harvest is getting close for these.

 

[Dan Freeman]

I finally processed my bolted onions before dinner tonight. I had left them too long, so the center stalk was hard and needed to be removed. Then I sliced them in the food processor and used some in a mushroom and onion sauce for pork and froze two pints. The red and white onions are mostly still standing, but my bed of yellow onions (Texas Legend) is mostly down at this point. They are supposed to be an early maturing variety. Harvest is getting close for these.

View attachment 295452

What are those round clay-looking discs?

 

[DuaeGuttae]

Those are just plant saucers that serve as covers for my underground irrigation. I have unglazed terra cotta pots (without drainage holes) buried throughout my garden. I fill these “ollas” to keep a minimum level of moisture by my plants roots. I need to get out and refill them this morning. Since it has been so dry my plants are using water more quickly.

https://extension.arizona.edu/sites/extension.arizona.edu/files/pubs/az1911-2021.pdf

The inverted water bottles you commented on in my bucket planters were how I came to learn of the idea. When we moved here and were planting blueberries in pots I wanted a way to keep the moisture a little more consistent. After my next door neighbors had a dinner party one night, I asked for their empty wine bottles. They gladly shared them with me, but they also showed me the ”vacation watering spikes” they used in some of their pots. They were terra cotta and buried beneath the soil. When I began to read up on it, I came across literature about ollas.

I’ve found the system to be very helpful in my dry climate. It takes time to fill the ollas, but it helps prevent evaporation from the surface. We used to use gravity from our rain tanks to fill, but as my garden has expanded that became too time consuming. I still use a hose, but we have added a portable pump to the tank, and that really helps speed up the process.

There are some pictures in this older post (#165) where Begreen asked the same question.

2020 Garden Thread

Beware of garden trolls.

www.hearth.com

 

[Dan Freeman]

I guess when water is at a minimum and the heat is high, you need to do everything you can. Very creative ideas!

I am looking into rain barrels/a rain tank now. The food forest with its 40+ trees/bushes/vines/annual & perennial vegetables is going to take a lot of water, more than we have ever used before. Luckily, except for 1 year out of 27, our well has always been full. However, with more watering we will be using the well pump and the tank that creates the water pressure (forget what you call it) a lot more. Thet means more electricity and the possibility of replacing equipment if they should fail. I'm just starting to research now. My tendency is to go with an opaque black tank of 300-500 gallons to eliminate algae, but then the black will keep the water temperature too hot. I could have it buried, but that adds to the expense. There are insulating jackets that can control the heat, but I am just starting to read about them. I wouldn't need a pump as it will be placed high on the hill above the FF, so it will feed by gravity. As I said, I just started looking into this idea last night.

 

[begreen]

Tomatoes went into the ground 2 days ago. I have a row cover over them. Hope they will make it. It was 65º yesterday but 42º last night. I have backups still in the greenhouse if they don't. I also put in a row of carrot seeds. Broccoli loves this weather. Peas and lettuce are growing, slowly.

 

[Dan Freeman]

Today I got 12 tomato plants planted down in the field and two more tomato trellises built over 4 x 8 raised beds. Tomorrow, I'll plant 12 more tomato plants. With the 5 Tiny Tim's I am going to grow in the greenhouse, that will be 29 tomato plants. More than enough. I also have about 40 tomato plants for my neighbors for their gardens.

I also planted 36 marigolds and zinnias in some of the smaller gardens around the yard.

 

[clancey]

I have two holes for the tomato plant and the lettuce plant and will put them in the ground soon. I dug about 6 inches deep and about five inches wide and I wonder if this is enough for them. My mint plant I will keep in the window container by itself and do you all think this is okay? When I get them in the ground I will take pictures of them...Your garden pictures just look beautiful..clancey

 

[DuaeGuttae]

I guess when water is at a minimum and the heat is high, you need to do everything you can. Very creative ideas!

I am looking into rain barrels/a rain tank now. The food forest with its 40+ trees/bushes/vines/annual & perennial vegetables is going to take a lot of water, more than we have ever used before. Luckily, except for 1 year out of 27, our well has always been full. However, with more watering we will be using the well pump and the tank that creates the water pressure (forget what you call it) a lot more. Thet means more electricity and the possibility of replacing equipment if they should fail. I'm just starting to research now. My tendency is to go with an opaque black tank of 300-500 gallons to eliminate algae, but then the black will keep the water temperature too hot. I could have it buried, but that adds to the expense. There are insulating jackets that can control the heat, but I am just starting to read about them. I wouldn't need a pump as it will be placed high on the hill above the FF, so it will feed by gravity. As I said, I just started looking into this idea last night.

We have an assortment of rain barrels and tanks. Our first was one my sister made from a recycled pickle barrel (black). It came with us to Texas, and while the water does get somewhat warm, it’s never too hot for watering the plants. We added a second smaller barrel that we made ourselves when we still lived in Virginia. With the rain we got there, they got refilled often, and they met our needs. (Our garden was also very small.) Once we moved to Texas, however, we realized that we needed to catch much larger amounts of water so that we could store and use it for long dry periods. We do still use our black barrel here, though, and it doesn’t get too warm. It doesn’t have a huge amount of sun exposure in its current location, though.

Our current garden tank is 500 gallons and is dark brown. The hose attached to it gets very warm from lying in the sun, and I just the other day burned basil leaves with it before I realized it had heated up during the break I had taken. The water coming from the tank is much cooler, though. We’ve used this particular tank for almost four years, and I don’t think there’s ever been an occasion when we thought that we couldn’t use the water because the temperature was too high.

Our newest and largest tanks are both pale beige but have thicker plastic than our other tanks, and we have not had a problem with them growing algae. I think as long as you find a good quality tank, you can choose the color to match your preferences. I think the brand of our beige ones is Enduraplas, and one of their points of pride is that the plastic is completely opaque to prevent algae growth.

I wouldn’t think burying the tank or any kind of insulation jacket would be necessary in your circumstances. I wonder if those are more for protecting against winter freezes for people who don’t drain their tanks or for some specialty plants that have super-specific needs. I figure if our water remains at an acceptable temperature in Texas, yours ought to in Pennsylvania.

It continues to be hot and dry down here. When I went to refill my ollas this morning, I was surprised to find just how low some of them were. Some were completely empty. This May has been very hot.

On a different note, while I was watering I saw one spot where a red potato was poking out of the soil. I decided that instead of burying it, I’d just grab it and find a few others to make a nice dish of new potatoes to go with our leftover mushroom and onion gravy. My kids just loved mashing the blue (purple) potatoes into the others. It made a lovely lavender, and new potatoes taste so good!

 

[DuaeGuttae]

I have two holes for the tomato plant and the lettuce plant and will put them in the ground soon. I dug about 6 inches deep and about five inches wide and I wonder if this is enough for them. My mint plant I will keep in the window container by itself and do you all think this is okay? When I get them in the ground I will take pictures of them...Your garden pictures just look beautiful..clancey

Mrs. Clancey, that size hole would be enough for any lettuce, I imagine. I don’t know how large your tomato is right now. It could possibly need a little more room. If the plant is large and you can’t go deeper, it might be possible to go wider and lay the tomato on its side with the top coming out at an angle. It’s good to bury a good portion of the stem if possible. If the tomato is still pretty small, though, it may be that your current hole is good enough.