2024 Garden Thread!

[EbS-P]

I use woodchips as mulch in my (non-food) garden - on the sand here (ice age ridges of sand and boulders) it helps a lot in decreasing water evaporation from the soil, keeping the soil warmer, and bringing carbon in the soil. Worked similarly well on the clay in TN.

I wonder whether the plants would grow better (more nitrogen) with something else. The wife does not like grass clippings in the non-food yard though...

Regarding the grass clippings in a (food) garden. I'd add the caveat to only do that if your grass is clean - no herbicides or pesticides (and if all natural, no artificial fertilizer). Otherwise you'll be bringing ***cides to the stuff you want to eat.

I got a big load of wood chips free from a tree service. Now I have smelly stinkhorns all over. They stink!

Stinkhorn Mushrooms

The caller explained that they had these alien-looking, pink things that resembled the pi sign. I said, “The what sign, the peace sign?” They said you know, the pi sign, like math. Then it clicked for me, “Oh…pi, like 3.14”! I have to say, I was intrigued and quite puzzled at the same time. What...

beaufort.ces.ncsu.edu

 

[begreen]

The wood chip video guy had greens and compost mixed into his chips. The grinder was mixing in the leaves and branches in addition to the trunk. I think he also had a bunch of compost he’d mix in from his chickens.

There have been a bunch of people that have used wood chips only and had luck. I think they plant below the chips, with the roots into the soil.

The chips should only pull nitrogen from the soil they are in contact with while they are decomposing via bacteria. If you have fungal forces at work, the bacteria might not be an issue.

Yes, if the soil is well amended in advance of mulching with some supplemental nitrogen added, the nitrogen depletion effect can be mitigated, especially if the garden is drip irrigated. The main benefit of a wood chip mulch is weed reduction and moisture retention. If available, a heavy straw or spoiled hay mulch can be much more effective and benficial. Ruth Stout championed this No Work Garden method many decades ago.

”No-Work” Technique for Starting an Organic Garden: The Ruth Stout Method

Are you thinking of starting an organic vegetable garden that requires no fertilizers, no watering, and best of all, no digging and soil amendments? In that case, the Ruth Stout method is one of the

thenatureofhome.com

2024 Garden Thread!

My rhubarb is just starting to come up. Interesting thought of harvesting it early. It’s been putting energy into the roots. I should be able to take some and not hurt anything. I usually wait until June.

www.hearth.com

Regarding the grass clippings in a (food) garden. I'd add the caveat to only do that if your grass is clean - no herbicides or pesticides (and if all natural, no artificial fertilizer). Otherwise you'll be bringing ***cides to the stuff you want to eat.

Definitely, this is true for any mulch. We only use our own lawn clippings so that we know they are ok. Out here, hay from eastern WA can have the herbicide clopyralid or aminopyralid in it which is toxic for 3-5 yrs. and devastating to young plants, especially legumes.

Also, be careful not to use grass later in the season when it is going to seed or you will have a lawn in your garden.

 

[EbS-P]

Taxi tomatoes, pickle bush, and the whole 10x20 garden under the sun shade.

 

[begreen]

Looking good. You are a month ahead of us in growing. We are still having cool nights to contend with. We grew taxi for a couple years. It's a nice tomato and a good performer. Is this a different cucumber? It doesn't look like a bush plant.

Our outdoor cuke is barely 8" tall. The same plant in the greenhouse is pushing 3' tall and is already setting cucumbers.

 

[EbS-P]

Looking good. You are a month ahead of us in growing. We are still having cool nights to contend with. We grew taxi for a couple years. It's a nice tomato and a good performer. Is this a different cucumber? It doesn't look like a bush plant.

Our outdoor cuke is barely 8" tall. The same plant in the greenhouse is pushing 3' tall and is already setting cucumbers.

Yes that’s the bush pickle. You a looking at the side of a bale. I think I only had one plant in that pot.

It’s becoming apparent that the cool short season tomatoes don’t like the heat and it really hasn’t been that hot. 86 yesterday 85 now. I’m going to try a take a clipping of the taxi just to see if the determinate can be an all summer long tomato 🍅 plant.

 

[stovexxx]

starting to see some tomatoes !

 

[begreen]

Nice. That was an early set. What variety?

Our plants are just starting to set tomatoes after building upsome strong foliage. The greenhouse Early Girl has a few tomatoes on it. That plant is over 3 ft tall now and thriving. This week the nighttime temps will finally be over 50º which will help jumpstart a lot of plants.

 

[stovexxx]

they are smooth round tomatoes, same thing here too, we are starting to have the first nights above 10 C (50 F) and this makes me wonder if it would be better to start in June, but I don't know if it would be late, however only some vegetables suffered in May, fortunately

 

[begreen]

Early June and we are picking snap peas, broccoli, spinach, and lots of lettuce. The greenhouse Poiniente Cucumber is now 7' tall and has a few cukes on it. The largest is 5" and growing quickly. The Early Girl in the greenhouse has around 5 tomatoes so far, the largest is about golf ball sized. I took the temporary greenhouse off of the eggplants Tuesday during this warm and sunny spell.
Here's how the outside looks today.

 

[EbS-P]

About to hit full swing tomato production! I’m picking a bit early to avoid splitting and vermin.

 

[stovexxx]

this is my favorite recipe, to enjoy the ripe, raw tomato, simply split it in half and rub it on the bread, juice and pulp, then add salt and olive oil without anything else, then can add tuna, mozzarella, basil but the base is a spectacle to savor the tomatoes

 

[EbS-P]

Chocolate stripe (hh), Fred’s tie-dye (d), Sunset red Horizon (c)
Radiator Charlie(hh), Buckbees New(c), taxi (hhc)

hh= hot and humid
d= dwarf tomato project
hhc= hot humid container
c= cool/cold early season.

Will report a taste test soon in the rest soon. Buckbees is good. Taxi a bit bland.

 

[begreen]

I've grown Pink Berkley Tie-dyed tomatoes in the past. They bear a generous quantity of full-sized and more rounded tomatoes, with very good flavor. Taxi is a milder, lower acid fruit.

 

[begreen]

The first cucumber was picked today. It's from the greenhouse cuke which has several on it now. The same outdoor plant is only 12" tall. It will be a month before it starts producing.

 

[EbS-P]

The Tye dye is really well balanced and flavorful. The chocolate stripe has less acidity. Both excellent. The radiator Charlie is more sweet. I like a little acid and it has enough for my taste. A slice of fried bologna may or may not have been added;

Fred’s probably the best setting of large fruits. My chocolate stripe doesn’t have much but my dads does.

 

[DuaeGuttae]

Thanks for pictures and reports on the gardens. I’m enjoying seeing them, though I admit I get a little envious of ripe tomatoes and greenhouse cucumbers at this point.

We’re having a hot and dry spell, so we’ve been busy mulching and watering from the rain barrels. I’ve suggested to my mom that she consider drip irrigation for future years, but she’s not ready to think about that yet. She’s eighty seven and wears me out.

We’ve been having lovely harvests of lettuce, though some is already bolting. We’re also eating mustard, kale, cabbage, and broccoli. We have cauliflower in the garden, but I’m not sure that any has actually set heads.

The other day my mom harvested some beautiful garlic. It was a softneck called Viola Francese that I had purchased for Texas growing but had mailed up here to my mom before we moved. This year’s crop came from what she grew last year, and it did beautifully. We have a couple of other varieties still to harvest..



We also had our first harvest of peppers the other day when my youngest child requested that I make “mud” for lunch. “Mud” is our family name for refried black beans. I harvested a hot sunset banana pepper for the guacamole and a bunch of shishitos for the refried beans. Most of our cilantro has bolted at this point, so I may want to grow some plants inside in the Aerogarden for later in the summer.



We have some nice fruit set on several varieties of tomatoes [Hungarian Heart, Maglia Rosa, Lynn’s Pink and others}, but nothing is ripe yet. Maglia Rosa may have been starting to blush, though, so I expect it to yield the first. The plant it’s on is looking diseased, however, so it may get culled.

We had a hard time with cucumber germination but have a few plants beginning to flower now. My mom says that in recent years she’s had a hard time keeping the vines alive to bear, so succession planting is probably the best solution for us, so it may be good that there’s still space in our row.

 

[stovexxx]

after 40 days, I collect a little salad😉

 

[begreen]

Looks good! We are daily salad eaters so I stagger plant our lettuce. We have been eating homegrown since April 2023. I grew it indoors over the winter. Outside we are on our third planting and I am about to start #4.

The zucchinis are starting to produce and so are the greenhouse cukes. I started harvesting row #1 carrots this week. Right now the biggest producer are the snap peas. We are getting a big bowlful every other day. That will probably end late next week as temps rise. Corn will be over knee high by the fourth of July.

 

[stoveliker]

Apart from the tomatoes, peppers, herbs, peas (w/ zucchini and cucumber and some beans awaiting), we harvested about 10 lbs of mulberries. Ate some, and made syrup (or something similar) to put in yoghurt from the rest.
And a mulberry lime zest cake that was a random find on the internet:

Mulberry & Lime Zest Drizzle Cake - Self Sufficient Me

Mulberry & lime zest drizzle cake showcases your home-grown fruit & is perfect in lunches, as a snack or for guests.

selfsufficientme.com

Very nice combo lime and mulberry - tho the recipe is far too sweet for my taste. Next year we will go with 1/3 of the sugar.

 

[stovexxx]

Also here my parents and parents my wife, they started picking zucchini .... They !
My garden is going slower, next year I'll have to organize the plants to apply drip irrigation, because I see in my father's vegetable garden that it works very well

 

[begreen]

That looks yummy. What is the dish on the right?

Making strawberry jam today. Apricot jam coming up next.

 

[stovexxx]

It's called "ciambotta" there are various variations in Italy, but I explain this:
- put potatoes, onions, all cut up in a pan to fry with a little oil and a few pieces of sausage
- shortly after add cut zucchini, followed by tomato sauce
- when it is ready it is preferable to add the basil at the end, otherwise its spectacular fragrance will vanish
- my variant, at the end I add eggs, which are very good in this dish!

 

[begreen]

We are harvesting carrots pretty regularly now. I just planted a 4th row. Peas are still coming in strong at about 2lbs every other day. This is the best year ever for us growing peas. It's about to get hot so I expect them to taper off soon.

I harvested the garlic yesterday, red hard-necked and white soft-necked.


The onion bed is going strong. There are 3 types of onions in the bed. The Ringmasters are sweet summer onions similar to Walla Walla. They will get harvested in about a month, though I will start thinning them soon. There are also Pattersons and Rosso di Milano that are winter keeping onions. I will probably harvest them in September? After the tops dry they get stored in our cool basement.

And the corn is well over knee-high by the fourth of July.



There are a lot of green tomatoes on the plants and they're looking good. Can't wait until they ripen. We have had a few peppers already from our early starts and there is an ambitious jalepeño that is sporting early peppers. The rest are just starting to blossom along with the eggplants. I started lettuce planting #4 today.

 

[hearthon]

I need to step up my garden game after seeing all these pics.

 

[EbS-P]

Tomato season is over here. Last haul. We might have a few cherry ones left.