2022 Garden Thread

[EatenByLimestone]

I'll be curious on how well your beds hold water! My raised beds dry out super fast.

 

[Dan Freeman]

I'll be curious on how well your beds hold water! My raised beds dry out super fast.

That's one of the benefits of hugelkultur. The wood acts as a sponge.

 

[Dan Freeman]

Finished putting together one of the elevated beds and got started on the 2nd one. 7 more arriving on Friday.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone.

 

[EatenByLimestone]

Thats a big bed!

 

[begreen]

I'll be curious on how well your beds hold water! My raised beds dry out super fast.

Ours do pretty well.

 

[begreen]

Finished putting together one of the elevated beds and got started on the 2nd one. 7 more arriving on Friday.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone.

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That's a big baby. I'm glad they have inner reinforcing struts. I'll be watching this to see what you think after a year. I give the black edge cording on top one season.

 

[Dan Freeman]

That's a big baby. I'm glad they have inner reinforcing struts. I'll be watching this to see what you think after a year. I give the black edge cording on top one season.

I'm with you on edging, but it really isn't even necessary since the tops are rolled and not sharp. Guess they figure it gives it a nice "finish".

 

[DuaeGuttae]

DG, here’s a pic of some of the tomatoes. The dead leaves are from branches that fell outside tge arc of light. The plants have been bumping up against the light for some time, it burnt some leaves.

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Thanks for the photo. How high does your light hood go? I’ve been raising mine, but I haven’t gotten to the max yet, but I also don’t have any green tomatoes either. I started my seeds later than you guys did because I was inspired by all your talk of your tomatoes.

I haven’t done a lot outside in the garden this week because each day has started off with “a misty, moisty morning,” and today is downright foggy. There hasn’t been a lot of precipitation, but it looks like the forecast may have some actual significant rain in it for tomorrow.

I’m going to see if I can harvest a mess of Woods Mountain Crazy Beans for our Thanksgiving meal later today. I’ve been leaving them alone because of damp foliage, but I think I’ll need to it today, dampness or not.

 

[DuaeGuttae]

Going to use hugelkultur. Only the top 10" or so will be soil. https://vegogarden.com/blogs/academ...ds-and-save-money?_pos=1&_sid=29d2d0565&_ss=r

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All of our raised beds are a mini hugelkultur setup. They do dry out fast in our heat, but they are better than our native soil because they have more organic matter. I have some really large terra cotta pots where I was able to build up a larger percentage of rotten wood at the bottom, and those do hold moisture better, being deeper with less exposed surface area to volume ratio. Of course, I also have ollas buried everywhere to try to keep moisture submerged in my soil.

 

[EatenByLimestone]

I just measured and they go up 11”. A couple more inches would have been nice!

The shorter plants are batch #2.

#3 has a way to go! Maybe I’ll get to pick some in April? Lol

 

[DuaeGuttae]

Those onions have grown fast, @EatenByLimestone . They look good.

I’ll have to measure my hoods again. I think one of mine goes to 11 inches, but the other maybe goes to 13. I can’t remember. I did notice my first green tomato on the red variety in the Aerogarden this morning.

Yesterday I harvested a little over half a pound of beans for our Thanksgiving meal as well as some parsley to put in the stuffing (and some greenish tomatoes that were either blushing or had fallen to the ground).



I also harvested the only two Mandarin oranges that we had on our trees this year. It has grown back really well after losing all its branches to the February 2021 freeze, but it didn’t put on many flowers this year probably because it was too busy growing. I also harvested some ginger root. Both the oranges and the ginger went into our cranberry sauce.



I also wanted to show a picture of the ripened Taiga tomatoes. These were the least mature of the ones that I showed in a photo earlier this month, but they are ripening nicely inside. I need to use them soon.



We have been having a damp week but without much rain accumulation. That may change later today if a forecast storm pushes through. I’m really hoping for a soaking rain.

I took the opportunity this morning to seed out some crops for fall/winter/spring. I reseeded Upland Cress. I had tried about a month ago with no success. I also seeded a bed with some lettuce seeds I had saved last year. I put out some Daikon Radish cover crop seeds in a few different places. Even though it’s not really the right time of year, I also put in just a very few Chinese Cabbage seeds. I know a good cold would wipe them out, but I just want to see what they might do. Finally, I also transplanted an artichoke and a rhubarb plant that I’ve been growing in small pots on my deck. They went into a planter in the garden.

 

[EatenByLimestone]

Hmmm, ginger cranberry sauce. I never thought of those two together.

We’re having a bit of a thaw. Maybe I should dig some horseradish.

 

[RomanW]

Can anyone recommend a good set of indoor growing lamps? Preferably that work well under a cabinet? We have some extra countertop space on one side of our kitchen, and the wife and I want to use it to grow some veggies inside during the winter, so I was going to mount some LED uv lights under the cabinet over top of some planters.

 

[Dan Freeman]

Can anyone recommend a good set of indoor growing lamps? Preferably that work well under a cabinet? We have some extra countertop space on one side of our kitchen, and the wife and I want to use it to grow some veggies inside during the winter, so I was going to mount some LED uv lights under the cabinet over top of some planters.

Only problem with that Roman is if you mount them, you can't adjust the height. Grow light distance from your plant canopy needs to be adjusted as your plants grow. In any event, when folks ask for grow light recommendations, I only recommend one brand, Happy Leaf Led Grow Lights. I have tried many over the years. Now that I found Happy Leaf, I will never buy another brand. Not cheap, but the best grow lights I have ever used. https://happyleafled.com/

 

[Dan Freeman]

I finished assembling the 2nd large, elevated bed this afternoon just before it started raining. Seven more (smaller) are supposed to arrive via UPS this afternoon.

 

[begreen]

Look at that Matt, you've got little tomatoes! The Tiny Tims are now dominating our little garden with lettuces and basil hanging out the sides. I've done a few lettuce pickings already. Our iDoo goes up to 15". I just raised it all the way for this picture. These plants are growing fast. Planted 10/19. Should I trim the roots of the tomatoes?

 

[begreen]

Now that I found Happy Leaf, I will never buy another brand. Not cheap, but the best grow lights I have ever used. https://happyleafled.com/

I like their business model, small, independent, and made in USA.

 

[RomanW]

Only problem with that Roman is if you mount them, you can't adjust the height. Grow light distance from your plant canopy needs to be adjusted as your plants grow. In any event, when folks ask for grow light recommendations, I only recommend one brand, Happy Leaf Led Grow Lights. I have tried many over the years. Now that I found Happy Leaf, I will never buy another brand. Not cheap, but the best grow lights I have ever used. https://happyleafled.com/

Good point. We're probably going to go the micro green route, so hopefully height won't be too much of an issue

 

[EatenByLimestone]

BG,

I haven’t trimmed any roots. I have pulled the tray up and folded the roots over to make sure they aren’t growing into the pump.

I’ve wondered if I should trim roots, but keep coming back to the plant wanting them to be there and that more roots should equal more nutrient uptake. They don’t seem to be root bound.

 

[begreen]

I probably should have done this earlier, but will inspect the roots today.

https://hydrobuilder.com/learn/root-pruning/

 

[begreen]

I also harvested the only two Mandarin oranges that we had on our trees this year. It has grown back really well after losing all its branches to the February 2021 freeze, but it didn’t put on many flowers this year probably because it was too busy growing. I also harvested some ginger root. Both the oranges and the ginger went into our cranberry sauce.


I took the opportunity this morning to seed out some crops for fall/winter/spring. I reseeded Upland Cress. I had tried about a month ago with no success. I also seeded a bed with some lettuce seeds I had saved last year. I put out some Daikon Radish cover crop seeds in a few different places. Even though it’s not really the right time of year, I also put in just a very few Chinese Cabbage seeds. I know a good cold would wipe them out, but I just want to see what they might do. Finally, I also transplanted an artichoke and a rhubarb plant that I’ve been growing in small pots on my deck. They went into a planter in the garden.

Mandarin oranges, ginger, and tomatoes in November, so nice. There are some perks to living in a hot climate.

 

[DuaeGuttae]

Mandarin oranges, ginger, and tomatoes in November, so nice. There are some perks to living in a hot climate.

We figure if we live here, we might as well take advantage of it. The ginger is inside the house now, though, and has been for a couple of weeks as our winters are definitely too cold for it. Our lemongrass outside is still alive at the moment, though, since we haven’t yet had a killing freeze.

We got 5/8 of an inch of rain late last night from a storm. It wasn’t as much as predicted, but it’s still significant given our exception drought status. That nice soaking should help my seeds germinate. It was lovely to go to sleep to the sound of rain and to wake up this morning to sunshine making sparkles on the wet leaves.

I did once prune roots in my Aerogarden. It’s probably somewhere in one of these threads. I can’t remember the crop. It may have been lettuce or kale. I don’t think it was tomatoes or peppers. I do remember that it did not seem to bother the plants at all.

I have in the past transplanted some fairly large tomatoes and peppers out of an Aerogarden into pots. That did require some root destruction, and they did survive that. That was when I had grown the plants in the winter but then wanted to use the Aerogarden for seed starting come January or February.

 

[Dan Freeman]

It's nice to hear of so many people doing winter gardening inside.

When I have done hydroponics in the past, I trimmed roots, but only to keep them from clogging the tubes or connection from one tube to another and creating an overflow onto the floor.

Agree with you, begreen, about living in a warmer climate. I would love to grow citrus. And thanks for that link about root pruning.

Got another elevated bed assembled today.

Also scored a truck load of sawdust from the guy I buy firewood from. I use it in the food forest and the chicken coop/run.

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We finally got the leaves raked and blown into the woods from around the food forest. Many of them are from two large Black Walnut trees, so we don't compost them because of the toxic juglone.

 

[Dan Freeman]

Just some updated indoor garden pictures...

Here's a shot of the North 40.



The tomato plants are doing well, and you can see we have been eating some of the outer leaves of the lettuce on the top shelf.



This plant has the most tomatoes so far with 28. The Tiny Tim tomatoes seem like they are never going to turn red, but once they begin, there are so many of them.



Very happy with how the basil and parsley have bounced back after being neglected outside towards the end of the season. The spinach is soooooo sloooooow to grow.

 

[Dan Freeman]

After putting together the collage of the Food Forest Pond last week, I decided to make another one of the FF in general since we started. I wish I had been more consistent with picture taking, though. There are some large gaps of time and work in this. I'm going to try and be better about that this next season.

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