I still remember how, as kids, we would go out and pick wild elderberries so my Grandmother could make elderberry preserves and elderberry pie. --- Ok, they weren't really "wild", they were planted and forgotten on a piece of land that was owned by a cemetery.
Mrs. Garden, wasting a good ole Budweiser on a slug is alcohol abuse...abusing the beer...get it!! Hardy har har!!!
Bramble, my favorite vegetable is asparagus. I love it so much I eat it raw. It is never for sale at the farmers market. It is available only in the grocery stores in the late winter and through late spring. It takes 3 years from the first planting to harvest it, right? I don't think asparagus can be grown in my area. But now, I think I may study that a little more. Never know, never can tell.
Amongst the rainy days, finally, the garden is in. Halelujah, for the rain. This year I decided to plant 3 rows of Silver Queen corn. It will produce about 36 ears. Not much. But it will be from my garden. The farmers market will offer plenty more. Besides the 3 cukes on the trellis, there is a total of 15 tomato plants, 3 green bell peppers, 2 jalapeno (planted on opposite ends of the garden), 3 yellow Crook Neck squash, 3 rows of speckled butter beans, 3 rows of green beans, a row of carrots, and a little patch of pumpkins. I sowed chives and planted a Lavender starter into the herb garden. Seems like I am leaving something out. Purple Hull Crowder peas will be planted July 26. The mean little beetle that likes to eat them will be gone by then.
It has been so wet the Lightnin' Bugs are late coming out.
I learned the reason my heirloom tomatoes were so small last year is because I planted them too close to the Roma tomatoes. Duh, me.
Mrs. Garden, wasting a good ole Budweiser on a slug is alcohol abuse...abusing the beer...get it!! Hardy har har!!!
Bramble, my favorite vegetable is asparagus. I love it so much I eat it raw. It is never for sale at the farmers market. It is available only in the grocery stores in the late winter and through late spring. It takes 3 years from the first planting to harvest it, right? I don't think asparagus can be grown in my area. But now, I think I may study that a little more. Never know, never can tell.
Amongst the rainy days, finally, the garden is in. Halelujah, for the rain. This year I decided to plant 3 rows of Silver Queen corn. It will produce about 36 ears. Not much. But it will be from my garden. The farmers market will offer plenty more. Besides the 3 cukes on the trellis, there is a total of 15 tomato plants, 3 green bell peppers, 2 jalapeno (planted on opposite ends of the garden), 3 yellow Crook Neck squash, 3 rows of speckled butter beans, 3 rows of green beans, a row of carrots, and a little patch of pumpkins. I sowed chives and planted a Lavender starter into the herb garden. Seems like I am leaving something out. Purple Hull Crowder peas will be planted July 26. The mean little beetle that likes to eat them will be gone by then.
It has been so wet the Lightnin' Bugs are late coming out.
I learned the reason my heirloom tomatoes were so small last year is because I planted them too close to the Roma tomatoes. Duh, me.
Carry on gardeners!!!
Ohh good to know... re configures garden beds in head to separate romas from early girls. This is hard I have to also keep them away from the apricot tree. Tomatoes and Apricots hate each other .
Asparagus is from the Nile area originally... but it likes to have a rich soil and it prefers to be in an undisturbed state. Hmmm I better double check this.. it is info I got from a novel about Egypt any way it grows great along the California coast where we have no Frost at all , okay a little frost. and it grows well in the heat too.
My elderberries have purple foliage, very pretty and lacy.
We were told by a local gardening group that we couldn't grow asapargus here, but I grew up in Montana and remember that it grew everywhere, and the climate where I grew up in Eastern Montana is very harsh with really frigid winters. My parents would send us collecting up and down the county road we lived on, but to leave every 10th one to go to seed.
Ours is in the fourth year but we harvested some last year.
"Asparagus grows best in sandy soil and cooler temps." Well, the sandy soil eliminates my region from growing asparagus. Maybe I could put in a sand box. One like the children played in?!?!?? If it grows well in Leafy's heated region maybe it would do well in the Sunny South. Hhhhmmmm.....
Early Girl is a hybrid so it probably would not be affected by the Roma.
How dreamy to just walk down a road and cut asparagus. None would make it home with me because I would have eaten it all. Kind of like when my grandma would take me to their strawberry field to help her pick. She couldn't find me because I was lying down in the rows eating the strawberries. I was hiding because I knew I was suppose to be picking instead of eating. Even now, I smell those strawberries.
"Asparagus grows best in sandy soil and cooler temps." Well, the sandy soil eliminates my region from growing asparagus. Maybe I could put in a sand box. One like the children played in?!?!?? If it grows well in Leafy's heated region maybe it would do well in the Sunny South. Hhhhmmmm.....
Early Girl is a hybrid so it probably would not be affected by the Roma.
How dreamy to just walk down a road and cut asparagus. None would make it home with me because I would have eaten it all. Kind of like when my grandma would take me to their strawberry field to help her pick. She couldn't find me because I was lying down in the rows eating the strawberries. I was hiding because I knew I was suppose to be picking instead of eating. Even now, I smell those strawberries.
Regarding the asparagus in my area we have clay soil it grows quite happily.
But my first experience with it was in Michigan where my Grandfather grew it on his farm and my cousin still harvests off those plants in one of the fields. I personally have seen it growing in Idaho so you are talking 20+ below in the winter.
but it equally does well in my climate California coast with no frost .. and hot dry summers
the soil In Michigan was a mix of loamy/sandy but like I said where I am we are solid clay and it is quite happy here. just up the road about five miles from me is a organic asparagus farm and they grow beautiful asparagus. I suspect it is all in the variety you plant.
Regarding the asparagus in my area we have clay soil it grows quite happily.
But my first experience with it was in Michigan where my Grandfather grew it on his farm and my cousin still harvests off those plants in one of the fields. I personally have seen it growing in Idaho so you are talking 20+ below in the winter.
but it equally does well in my climate California coast with no frost .. and hot dry summers
the soil In Michigan was a mix of loamy/sandy but like I said where I am we are solid clay and it is quite happy here. just up the road about five miles from me is a organic asparagus farm and they grow beautiful asparagus. I suspect it is all in the variety you plant.
Adding I have found that plants are much more sensitive than folks give them credit for.. so I will keep them separate.. it explains some disastrous tomato years for me. and I will keep every one separate from now on. I have plenty of planting beds and plenty of companion plants that can grow with them to fill said boxes.
leafytwiglet, I am with you at this moment about plants being more sensitive than folks give them credit for. The 3 cucumbers I planted on the trellis have vanished. I mean lain over dead and given up the ghost. Plenty of rain and some sunshine. Daggum, cukes have always been so hardy and prolific producers in the garden. Maybe they don't like roses or the roses don't like them. I have never had this happen. Thankfully, the roses are flourishing.
My love for asparagus compels me to try my hand at it one day.
THe last two years I have grown my cucumbers surrounded by bush beans .. a mutually happy condition. Cuccs love heat by the way perhaps put in too early???
did they get wilt or mosaic disease or possibly white or black fungus?
Verticillium wilt, or mosaic or mildew these are the three mine succumb to if they fail depending on time of year. we get a lot of fog in hte summer and it pretty much does in runner beans and cuccs.. I found that bush beans don't get the mildew as easily and for what ever reason the cuccs don't get it as bad when surrounded by bush beans. or maybe the beans protect against other factors.
Regarding the posts about the slugs, I don't garden much now, but I used to, and back in the day we used the beer method too and were quite sucessful in eliminating slugs. Also, you can scatter eggshells-as they cut themselves on the sharp edges and avoid the eggshell areas, or scatter dry cornmeal or oats, oat bran on the ground at the end of the day, or do the same as the beer and place them in a low, flat dish, and the oats or the cornmeal will kill the slugs, since they expand after they're eaten. Not as brutal as the salt, but you don't have to clean out the dead slugs from the beer either, and it's natural, no pesticides.
now I see, I thought I read something about using oats, but when I went back to get more information I couldn't find the site. Is it Oatmeal that you used?
Yes, it was oatmeal, I have heard oat bran works too, although I have never used that. Â The slug eats the dry oats or cornmeal and then it swells up inside them and kills them. Â That is why it is good to put it on at the end of the day, so it stays as dry as possible. Â They also avoid the edges of crushed egg shells, so they are good to sprinkle around, and I've read that they don't like mulch since it's fermented like beer is, it doesn't agree with them. Â
They also don't like pine or cedar, some people spread pine needles or pine cones around their gardens, or cedar chips. Â I personally have bought cedar oil from ebay to deter different pests from entering my home and used it mixed with water in a sprayer, and sprayed all around the house inside and out. Â It really works as a natural insect and bug deterent. Â It makes your house smell like a log cabin for a day or two though!
Husband would Kill me if I put beer out.. HE would say this is a waste of good beer.. ledt the slugs brew their own.
SO the weekend was full of roto tilling all the Veggie beds that are not already planted then I put together some drip irrigation systems for each raised bed and installed black plastic on part of them.. I still need to get more black plastic tomorrow and finish laying it down.
So far I have planted my Early girl tomatoes >>> I need to pick up one more
and I think I am gonna grab two more romas.. I planted 6 green peppers and I need to get 6 each of Yellow peppers and Orange peppers or Purple peppers,
I am also going to put in Some cantaloupe. I am hoping the wind will die down tonight so I can plant my bush beans and cucumbers... but right now it is roaring through my back yard still... Not optimum planting conditions.
That leaves my bed of beets and assorteds Spinach/chard carrots and radishes and lettuce.
My Garlic is almost ready to pick some of it is ripe and some will be in about a week.
so that will leave me space for something else in that bed as it is the one with my romas and onions I need to figure out what else I can plant in there.
I'm having a hard time giving the slugs good beer, maybe that's why I've not tried it for the past 2 1/2 years. When I'm back in the states I might pick up a couple of cans of American beer, which I think tastes icky, and bring it back here to give to the slugs! They have Bud here, but I should be able to find something cheaper to bring back :)
Well in Sunny CA (the coastal region) you usually plant in the late fall and harvest at the end of spring or early in the summer I planted mine late(in the winter) so it won't be as big as last years but it is okay.. The ones I am harvesting were left overs some how I missed them last year so they self sprouted. and the ones I planted late are just about ready to harvest.
LOL was that confusing enough
let me reword all that... since we are warm all year just about they start growing right away and grow for about 6 - 7 months from sprout to harvest depending on the weather.
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kimberly
gc, black eyed peas are for luck and collard greens are for dollars. I plant enough collard greens the end of August to last us all winter long. Oh, honey everybody, I have maters and more maters.
kimberly
Bramble, so sorry about your garden. Our weather has been crazy too. This time of year we are accustomed to the feeling of a hot wet towel wrapped around the face when we are outside. But it has
kimberly
When referring to the herb garden I meant the annuals. I broke down and watered/fertilized the dill and basil. I am hoping for a comeback. The perinnial's (sp?)are forging on. Nothing seems to f
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waysider
Elderberries----yum!
I still remember how, as kids, we would go out and pick wild elderberries so my Grandmother could make elderberry preserves and elderberry pie. --- Ok, they weren't really "wild", they were planted and forgotten on a piece of land that was owned by a cemetery.
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kimberly
Mrs. Garden, wasting a good ole Budweiser on a slug is alcohol abuse...abusing the beer...get it!! Hardy har har!!!
Bramble, my favorite vegetable is asparagus. I love it so much I eat it raw. It is never for sale at the farmers market. It is available only in the grocery stores in the late winter and through late spring. It takes 3 years from the first planting to harvest it, right? I don't think asparagus can be grown in my area. But now, I think I may study that a little more. Never know, never can tell.
Amongst the rainy days, finally, the garden is in. Halelujah, for the rain. This year I decided to plant 3 rows of Silver Queen corn. It will produce about 36 ears. Not much. But it will be from my garden. The farmers market will offer plenty more. Besides the 3 cukes on the trellis, there is a total of 15 tomato plants, 3 green bell peppers, 2 jalapeno (planted on opposite ends of the garden), 3 yellow Crook Neck squash, 3 rows of speckled butter beans, 3 rows of green beans, a row of carrots, and a little patch of pumpkins. I sowed chives and planted a Lavender starter into the herb garden. Seems like I am leaving something out. Purple Hull Crowder peas will be planted July 26. The mean little beetle that likes to eat them will be gone by then.
It has been so wet the Lightnin' Bugs are late coming out.
I learned the reason my heirloom tomatoes were so small last year is because I planted them too close to the Roma tomatoes. Duh, me.
Carry on gardeners!!!
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leafytwiglet
Ohh good to know... re configures garden beds in head to separate romas from early girls. This is hard I have to also keep them away from the apricot tree. Tomatoes and Apricots hate each other .
Asparagus is from the Nile area originally... but it likes to have a rich soil and it prefers to be in an undisturbed state. Hmmm I better double check this.. it is info I got from a novel about Egypt any way it grows great along the California coast where we have no Frost at all , okay a little frost. and it grows well in the heat too.
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leafytwiglet
Some Asparagus Information
Asparagus fun
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waysider
Tomato enemy:
http://www.extension.umn.edu/yardandgarden...blkwal-tox.html
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Bramble
My elderberries have purple foliage, very pretty and lacy.
We were told by a local gardening group that we couldn't grow asapargus here, but I grew up in Montana and remember that it grew everywhere, and the climate where I grew up in Eastern Montana is very harsh with really frigid winters. My parents would send us collecting up and down the county road we lived on, but to leave every 10th one to go to seed.
Ours is in the fourth year but we harvested some last year.
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kimberly
"Asparagus grows best in sandy soil and cooler temps." Well, the sandy soil eliminates my region from growing asparagus. Maybe I could put in a sand box. One like the children played in?!?!?? If it grows well in Leafy's heated region maybe it would do well in the Sunny South. Hhhhmmmm.....
Early Girl is a hybrid so it probably would not be affected by the Roma.
How dreamy to just walk down a road and cut asparagus. None would make it home with me because I would have eaten it all. Kind of like when my grandma would take me to their strawberry field to help her pick. She couldn't find me because I was lying down in the rows eating the strawberries. I was hiding because I knew I was suppose to be picking instead of eating. Even now, I smell those strawberries.
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gc
Waysider, that's a good look. Its a friendly looking avatar
:)
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waysider
Still
Thanks.
That's Paul DeLay, one of the greatest harmonica player, singer/songwriter, all around good guys to ever walk the planet Earth. :)
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leafytwiglet
Regarding the asparagus in my area we have clay soil it grows quite happily.
But my first experience with it was in Michigan where my Grandfather grew it on his farm and my cousin still harvests off those plants in one of the fields. I personally have seen it growing in Idaho so you are talking 20+ below in the winter.
but it equally does well in my climate California coast with no frost .. and hot dry summers
the soil In Michigan was a mix of loamy/sandy but like I said where I am we are solid clay and it is quite happy here. just up the road about five miles from me is a organic asparagus farm and they grow beautiful asparagus. I suspect it is all in the variety you plant.
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leafytwiglet
Adding I have found that plants are much more sensitive than folks give them credit for.. so I will keep them separate.. it explains some disastrous tomato years for me. and I will keep every one separate from now on. I have plenty of planting beds and plenty of companion plants that can grow with them to fill said boxes.
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kimberly
leafytwiglet, I am with you at this moment about plants being more sensitive than folks give them credit for. The 3 cucumbers I planted on the trellis have vanished. I mean lain over dead and given up the ghost. Plenty of rain and some sunshine. Daggum, cukes have always been so hardy and prolific producers in the garden. Maybe they don't like roses or the roses don't like them. I have never had this happen. Thankfully, the roses are flourishing.
My love for asparagus compels me to try my hand at it one day.
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leafytwiglet
THe last two years I have grown my cucumbers surrounded by bush beans .. a mutually happy condition. Cuccs love heat by the way perhaps put in too early???
did they get wilt or mosaic disease or possibly white or black fungus?
cucumber diseases
If you were in my area I would guess
Verticillium wilt, or mosaic or mildew these are the three mine succumb to if they fail depending on time of year. we get a lot of fog in hte summer and it pretty much does in runner beans and cuccs.. I found that bush beans don't get the mildew as easily and for what ever reason the cuccs don't get it as bad when surrounded by bush beans. or maybe the beans protect against other factors.
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now I see
Regarding the posts about the slugs, I don't garden much now, but I used to, and back in the day we used the beer method too and were quite sucessful in eliminating slugs. Also, you can scatter eggshells-as they cut themselves on the sharp edges and avoid the eggshell areas, or scatter dry cornmeal or oats, oat bran on the ground at the end of the day, or do the same as the beer and place them in a low, flat dish, and the oats or the cornmeal will kill the slugs, since they expand after they're eaten. Not as brutal as the salt, but you don't have to clean out the dead slugs from the beer either, and it's natural, no pesticides.
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gc
now I see, I thought I read something about using oats, but when I went back to get more information I couldn't find the site. Is it Oatmeal that you used?
gc
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now I see
Yes, it was oatmeal, I have heard oat bran works too, although I have never used that. Â The slug eats the dry oats or cornmeal and then it swells up inside them and kills them. Â That is why it is good to put it on at the end of the day, so it stays as dry as possible. Â They also avoid the edges of crushed egg shells, so they are good to sprinkle around, and I've read that they don't like mulch since it's fermented like beer is, it doesn't agree with them. Â
They also don't like pine or cedar, some people spread pine needles or pine cones around their gardens, or cedar chips. Â I personally have bought cedar oil from ebay to deter different pests from entering my home and used it mixed with water in a sprayer, and sprayed all around the house inside and out. Â It really works as a natural insect and bug deterent. Â It makes your house smell like a log cabin for a day or two though!
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gc
I'm going to try that, thanks. Beer and oatmeal, it sounds like a good meal!
gc
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RumRunner
I'm just gonna give the oatmeal to the slugs and keep the beer for me...
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now I see
If you soak the oatmeal in beer, maybe that would kill em too!!!!
Cept RumRunner would be disappointed he didn't get to drink it!!!
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leafytwiglet
Husband would Kill me if I put beer out.. HE would say this is a waste of good beer.. ledt the slugs brew their own.
SO the weekend was full of roto tilling all the Veggie beds that are not already planted then I put together some drip irrigation systems for each raised bed and installed black plastic on part of them.. I still need to get more black plastic tomorrow and finish laying it down.
So far I have planted my Early girl tomatoes >>> I need to pick up one more
and I think I am gonna grab two more romas.. I planted 6 green peppers and I need to get 6 each of Yellow peppers and Orange peppers or Purple peppers,
I am also going to put in Some cantaloupe. I am hoping the wind will die down tonight so I can plant my bush beans and cucumbers... but right now it is roaring through my back yard still... Not optimum planting conditions.
That leaves my bed of beets and assorteds Spinach/chard carrots and radishes and lettuce.
My Garlic is almost ready to pick some of it is ripe and some will be in about a week.
so that will leave me space for something else in that bed as it is the one with my romas and onions I need to figure out what else I can plant in there.
All in all a long happy gardening weekend :P
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gc
I'm having a hard time giving the slugs good beer, maybe that's why I've not tried it for the past 2 1/2 years. When I'm back in the states I might pick up a couple of cans of American beer, which I think tastes icky, and bring it back here to give to the slugs! They have Bud here, but I should be able to find something cheaper to bring back :)
gc
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coolchef
question on garlic
i plant mine in october and reap it in august
how do you do yours?
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leafytwiglet
Well in Sunny CA (the coastal region) you usually plant in the late fall and harvest at the end of spring or early in the summer I planted mine late(in the winter) so it won't be as big as last years but it is okay.. The ones I am harvesting were left overs some how I missed them last year so they self sprouted. and the ones I planted late are just about ready to harvest.
LOL was that confusing enough
let me reword all that... since we are warm all year just about they start growing right away and grow for about 6 - 7 months from sprout to harvest depending on the weather.
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waysider
I plant my garlic in sizzling olive oil.
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