Garden 2023

[Chiefsmom]

Sad news.
The nest of baby bunnies have all died.  There were 5 in there.  I think something killed the mom.  I should have been checking it daily, but I didn't want to bother them.
I feel horrible.
I will be burying them tonight.


Nice to read all the gardening going on here though.

I have all the strawberrys in, the new flowerbed made and hubby rototilled a spot for the asparagus.  I will be busy trying to get the all the fruit plants in this weekend, we are at 80F today, but by Monday we are supposed to be back down to upper 40's to 50F.
Uggh!
We have about 3-4 more weeks until I can get the veggy garden in, but man, the plants I started from seed are already 4-5" high.  The pumpkins are starting to lay sideways.

I'm getting impatient, but I know dang well we could have snow in 2 weeks still.

[Bally002]

Well I persevered with the Avocado that I accidently ripped up last week.  Repotted on the sunny verandah.

Shortly after potting 



Later



Finally growing



Potted with flowers and a couple of Dragon Fruit Cactus cuttings replanted



One of the Vege gardens



So, a little success.  Hope I live another 5 years to see it fruit.  I'll post some pics of harvesting the Dragon Fruit cuttings which I intend to move when they establish.

Kind regards,

Bally)

Edit to add,  Pics are small for some reason.  But when clicked open up.

[Ninurta]

Edit to add,  Pics are small for some reason.  But when clicked open up.

I edited your post to make the pics more visible in-line in the post, but folks can still open the full image by clicking on the thumbnails arranged at the bottom of the post.


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[Bally002]

Edit to add,  Pics are small for some reason.  But when clicked open up.

I edited your post to make the pics more visible in-line in the post, but folks can still open the full image by clicking on the thumbnails arranged at the bottom of the post.


Cheers mate,

Until I get my laptop updated I guess I'll be posting pics like I did.

Kind regards,

Bally)

[ABNARTY]

I wanted to send some pictures of my experimental garden to share with the thread. 

However...

Yesterday we got bombed with snow. Close to 20". I didn't get the pictures before hand either. 

So it will have to wait...

[Ninurta]

I'm getting impatient, mostly because many of my indoor-started plants are getting too "leggy", and they really need an outdoor environment. So, I checked the 10 day forecast... and it MAY be safe to set them out, but Sunday night/Monday morning it's supposed to get down to 33 degrees F, which is just a tad too close to freezing for my taste. Since the tobacco, tomatoes, and peppers evolved from tropical plants, I just don't think it would be a good idea to expose them to temps that low just yet.

Most of the rest of the time, lows are in the low to mid 40's, and I think they can survive that.

Might go ahead and plant the beans and corn tomorrow, though, since they shouldn't sprout until after the low temps are over.

I'm also thinking of building a garden box, sort of like a window planter, for kitchen herbs on the deck railing, close to the kitchen. Some of the herbs are going to get set directly into the ground in the yard, especially perennials like sage, but it would be convenient for Grace to have some of them growing close to hand for the kitchen, basil and thyme in particular.


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[ABNARTY]

It turns out I have a garden of different garden beds. This was not the plan but just how it has worked out. Someone is getting rid of something, I swipe it up, and it becomes a garden bed. Nothing is planted yet as you can still see some snow from our last storm. 

   
This is my potato bed. It grows enough potatoes to last us as long as they last in cool/dry storage. Originally the blocks which make up the holding crib were from a demolished silo. Matter of fact, they are very old. Ceramic. Some people pay a lot of money for them and use them decoratively in their house. 

   
This is two beds actually. The big one in the back came from a masonry demolition dump. The cinder blocks are all different sizes and I used landscape adhesive to keep them together. Mortar would have made a neater appearance but the gaps in the bricks allow water to drain naturally. I don't end up with a giant tub of mud. The red bricks on the top came from old fire chimney's on a nearby military installation. The little one in front went in the last two years. They are timbers reclaimed from highway/freeway maintenance. They big posts that hold up guard rails and such. They are just sitting on top of each other. Nothing connects them except for their own weight. 

   
This is my wife's flower bed. It really helps bring in the bees. I got the stone from a road cut near our house. Just drove the tractor with the trailer up there and filled it up. I would do it differently if there is a next time. This was my first one. 

   
This is the latest addition. There are four of them. Sort of reminiscent of waddle and dab. We had a lot of wet, heavy snow this winter and lost a lot of Box Elder. It isn't much good for firewood but I will give these a whirl. They should be pretty good with vine things. Or at least I can keep vine things out of everything else.

[Bally002]

It turns out I have a garden of different garden beds. This was not the plan but just how it has worked out. Someone is getting rid of something, I swipe it up, and it becomes a garden bed. Nothing is planted yet as you can still see some snow from our last storm. 


This is my potato bed. It grows enough potatoes to last us as long as they last in cool/dry storage. Originally the blocks which make up the holding crib were from a demolished silo. Matter of fact, they are very old. Ceramic. Some people pay a lot of money for them and use them decoratively in their house. 


This is two beds actually. The big one in the back came from a masonry demolition dump. The cinder blocks are all different sizes and I used landscape adhesive to keep them together. Mortar would have made a neater appearance but the gaps in the bricks allow water to drain naturally. I don't end up with a giant tub of mud. The red bricks on the top came from old fire chimney's on a nearby military installation. The little one in front went in the last two years. They are timbers reclaimed from highway/freeway maintenance. They big posts that hold up guard rails and such. They are just sitting on top of each other. Nothing connects them except for their own weight. 


This is my wife's flower bed. It really helps bring in the bees. I got the stone from a road cut near our house. Just drove the tractor with the trailer up there and filled it up. I would do it differently if there is a next time. This was my first one. 


This is the latest addition. There are four of them. Sort of reminiscent of waddle and dab. We had a lot of wet, heavy snow this winter and lost a lot of Box Elder. It isn't much good for firewood but I will give these a whirl. They should be pretty good with vine things. Or at least I can keep vine things out of everything else.

They're really nice looking garden beds.  A lot of work gone into them.  

I hope you'll post some pics of the vege and flowers later on.

Fine work mate.

Regards,

Bally)

[ABNARTY]

It turns out I have a garden of different garden beds. This was not the plan but just how it has worked out. Someone is getting rid of something, I swipe it up, and it becomes a garden bed. Nothing is planted yet as you can still see some snow from our last storm. 


This is my potato bed. It grows enough potatoes to last us as long as they last in cool/dry storage. Originally the blocks which make up the holding crib were from a demolished silo. Matter of fact, they are very old. Ceramic. Some people pay a lot of money for them and use them decoratively in their house. 


This is two beds actually. The big one in the back came from a masonry demolition dump. The cinder blocks are all different sizes and I used landscape adhesive to keep them together. Mortar would have made a neater appearance but the gaps in the bricks allow water to drain naturally. I don't end up with a giant tub of mud. The red bricks on the top came from old fire chimney's on a nearby military installation. The little one in front went in the last two years. They are timbers reclaimed from highway/freeway maintenance. They big posts that hold up guard rails and such. They are just sitting on top of each other. Nothing connects them except for their own weight. 


This is my wife's flower bed. It really helps bring in the bees. I got the stone from a road cut near our house. Just drove the tractor with the trailer up there and filled it up. I would do it differently if there is a next time. This was my first one. 


This is the latest addition. There are four of them. Sort of reminiscent of waddle and dab. We had a lot of wet, heavy snow this winter and lost a lot of Box Elder. It isn't much good for firewood but I will give these a whirl. They should be pretty good with vine things. Or at least I can keep vine things out of everything else.

They're really nice looking garden beds.  A lot of work gone into them.  

I hope you'll post some pics of the vege and flowers later on.

Fine work mate.

Regards,

Bally)

Thank you. Very kind. Yes, I agree right now the garden pics are not very sexy. They have been beat down by months of winter. However, I will try to remember to send some pics when everything is going well at the end of summer.

[Chiefsmom]

I'm getting impatient, mostly because many of my indoor-started plants are getting too "leggy", and they really need an outdoor environment. So, I checked the 10 day forecast... and it MAY be safe to set them out, but Sunday night/Monday morning it's supposed to get down to 33 degrees F, which is just a tad too close to freezing for my taste. Since the tobacco, tomatoes, and peppers evolved from tropical plants, I just don't think it would be a good idea to expose them to temps that low just yet.

Most of the rest of the time, lows are in the low to mid 40's, and I think they can survive that.

Might go ahead and plant the beans and corn tomorrow, though, since they shouldn't sprout until after the low temps are over.

I'm also thinking of building a garden box, sort of like a window planter, for kitchen herbs on the deck railing, close to the kitchen. Some of the herbs are going to get set directly into the ground in the yard, especially perennials like sage, but it would be convenient for Grace to have some of them growing close to hand for the kitchen, basil and thyme in particular.


.

I told my hubby I want that sign for my birthday!!!
We are having crap weather here! Frost every night. I have been covering the blueberries with chicken feed bags at night.
I have the same problem, my veggies inside are getting big, but it isn't getting warm enough for at least 2 more weeks to put them in the ground. I have a little shelf greenhouse, that I am going to start putting them outside in, during the day, but will have to tote them all in every night.
Maybe tomorrow, but probably Wednesday.

@ Ab, those are great! I love the look of them.

[Ninurta]

I took a hoe, and went out and cut furrows in the ground I already had broken up this evening. It's not a huge patch, hardly bigger than a grave, about 10' x 4'. so I only cut 3 10 foot furrows. checked the 10 day forecast, no frost predicted, so tomorrow I'll plant some stuff in it and break up another 10 x 4 patch for the tobacco. I'm figuring on 60 tobacco plants, 3 furrows, so 20 plants a furrow, one every 6 inches or so. That ought to work. they're tiny tobacco plants - not more than 2 1/2 or 3 feet tall at the most.

Sadly, the cat jumped into the middle of my start tray, and scattered the plant starts all over the kitchen floor. So, I don't know which pepper plants are cayenne, and which are bell peppers, so I'll just have to mix and match them.

i didn't start any of the jalapenos, because they are the weakest jalapenos I've ever tried to eat. I call them "sweet jjalapenos", because I couldn't detect any capiscum in them at all. Still, just so I know what something is, I'll probably start a few of them, too.

I've got a crap-ton of catnip, which will probably all go into about 8 pots, 4 of which will eventually get popped into the perimeter of the yard for the cats. The rest are for me, and my bad nerves.

If the cats don't destroy them, that is.

There is a bunch of peppermint, which also will likely go into 8 pots, 4 of which will migrate into the yard, eventually.

Also a bunch of basil, but Grace says 4 pots ought to be enough, so I dunno what I'll do wit the rest. Plant it down at the creek, I reckon, to get some started wild.

A bunch of thyme, too, which neither of us can reckon how much we can use, so, i dunno. I'm guessing 4 pots for the kitchen, and the rest into the wild.


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[Ninurta]

Cannabis - near harvest time:









The little hairs on the female flowers are turning rusty, an indication that the harvest is near. The tiny whitish dots are "trichomes", and harvest should not occur until they are amber colored, but the hairs are rusty, so it's a toss-up...

Waiting too long reduces the strength, and therefore the medicinal value. Being too eager doesn't allow the strength to build up, so reduced medicinal value as well. There is a right time, just right...

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[Ninurta]

So.

I transplanted a bunch of tomatoes and peppers in the ground outdoors today. Dirt was damp, seemed like a good time to do it. I also potted a couple starts of catnip and thyme. Seemed like a good time to do it.

I just went out on the deck to check on the potted starts, and birds were singing. In the dark. At 1 AM. Then I heard thunder to the south. Storm coming from a wrong direction. "Good" storms come from the west here. All other directions are "wrong", and bad, and blow shit up.

So I brought in what potted stuff I could, but left the 8 tobacco plants in pots out there. Nothing I can do for the tomatoes and peppers. they'll just have to toughen up, or die.

Bummer.

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[Chiefsmom]

Did they make it?  (tomato's and peppers)

We had snow and freezing rain again today.  But supposedly, today is the last of it.  Tomorrow 50's and sunny, and better every day the rest of the week.
I hope so, because I really have to get my plants in the ground soon.  They are going crazy, but the lettuce is looking sad.

Nin, those Cannabis plants look great!  Indoor?

We are supposed to be getting clones this week.  I usually do 8, but we are only going to do 6 this time, and I have one "Free CBD) plant I started from seed to make medicine from.

We just put them in the garden with everything else.

[VioletDove]

Has anybody tried in garden vermicomposting? I learned about it today. I tried worms in a container last year but it didn’t work out too well. I may try it this way to see if I have any luck. 

[Ninurta]

Did they make it?  (tomato's and peppers)

We had snow and freezing rain again today.  But supposedly, today is the last of it.  Tomorrow 50's and sunny, and better every day the rest of the week.
I hope so, because I really have to get my plants in the ground soon.  They are going crazy, but the lettuce is looking sad.

Yup, they made it. We had a "winter storm warning", but the temps here never got below 36 degrees F, so it was all good. High winds today, and for the next two days. They knocked over one of the pepper plants, but the game little mug stood his ass right back up like a trooper the next time I checked on them.

Nin, those Cannabis plants look great!  Indoor?

We are supposed to be getting clones this week.  I usually do 8, but we are only going to do 6 this time, and I have one "Free CBD) plant I started from seed to make medicine from.

We just put them in the garden with everything else.

Yup, those were indoor, planted the seed December 27th, so their whole growing season was indoor. They look good, but they're scrawny and tiny. Only got to about 4" tall, and didn't branch enough to produce any mega-buds. The biggest cola was about 3 inches long, and that was it. The rest are all under 1 inch long, and there aren't many of them.

I expect to get less than 6 grams total from two whole damned plants. Almost not even worth it.

Out of 6 plants that sprouted, 4 were male, so I killed off 3 of those and just kept one to produce seed with... but I'm not sure these tiny plants are worth saving seed from. We are only allowed 4 plants here, so i was sweating bullets for a while until I could sex them to know which ones to kill off. Saved the stems from the males to make twine with, but now I have to figure out how to get the fibers out to make the twine.

I had a bunch of CBD seed from Italy ("Carmagnola"), but none of them sprouted. Just as well, as the CBD doesn't seem to do the pain-killer trick like the THC does.

I have 9 sprouts so far for the spring crop. I'm going to plant some of them outdoors to see if that improves the bud size, and I'm sweating bullets again until I can sex them to see which ones to kill off. Such is life.

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[Ninurta]

Has anybody tried in garden vermicomposting? I learned about it today. I tried worms in a container last year but it didn’t work out too well. I may try it this way to see if I have any luck. 

I've not tried it, but I have no raised beds, either. I just break up dirt in the ground and plant in that, and what worms are there, are already there. I also don't quite grasp "composting". back in the day, I mucked out the horse stalls, we let that manure and straw sit in a hot pile over winter, then spread it on the garden and plowed it in in the early spring, a month or two before planting happened.

My neighbor wants to give me chicken manure to manure the dirt with, so I might try that next year.

I planted the beans and corn in the spot where I grew tobacco last year, to use the beans to replenish the nitrogen in the soil. Tobacco, tomatoes, peppers, and potatoes are all in the same family, and they all deplete nitrogen, but beans "fix" nitrogen, and replace it in the soil. So I'll just swap plant places every year and see how that goes.

I broke up another 10x4 foot plot today to plant tobacco in. The tobacco starts are "damping off", so I expect I'll be lucky to get 40 plants in where I had planned on 60.

A couple more tomatoes and pepper plants sprouted. Since the cat mishap, I still don't know which peppers are hot and which are sweet, so planting them is just the luck of the draw, and no seed can be saved because sweet and hot peppers cross pollinate with sometimes unexpected (and often unpleasant, depending on what one was expecting) results.

When I was breaking up the tobacco plot today, I ran across a Giant Appalachian Millipede. Not all that giant as they go, and certainly not the biggest I've seen. it was about 5 inches long and as big around as a pinky finger, but identifiable all the same.

The mini greenhouses were a good idea, and are still going strong, but the planting media may have been less than optimal - it's molding. That's probably the last time I use nearly pure peat as a starter medium. It's just too hard to get properly hydrated, and to maintain the right hydration in. Just plain dirt is far better.

Beans and corn have not yet sprouted, but I didn't really expect them to. they'll surprise me when they surprise me. Need to talk Grace into a corn grinder, not for this year's crop of (sweet) corn, but for next year's crop of flint.. I like me some corn bread and beans, and all the better if they are from the ground up, right here. I think I can talk her into it if I do alright with (her) herb garden this year. Sage, basil, and thyme are coming along nicely, and the cat are gonna love the catnip when it gets of a size.

The Afghan poppy - the single one, out of goddamned thousands of seed planted - is bolting. The grocery store poppy - again out of thousands of seeds planed - which i thought was dead, is gathering itself up to bolt. I reckon poppies just go dormant until it's time, then they run like the wind. With any luck, I'll have enough seed to get a bed started for next year, so I can get enough seeds for baking.

That's it for this update.

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[Ninurta]

Corn and beans started sprouting out of the ground today. So far, 80% of the corn has sprouted, and around 70% of the beans. Yesterday when I checked, nothing. Today, POOF! there it is.

I set 15 tobacco plants out a few days ago. So far, 14 of those are still alive, but struggling to get their legs beneath them. I think most will survive, it's just a matter of getting some new roots out into the new dirt, and I suspect most of their growth is going on under the ground at the moment. It's still a far cry from the 60 plants I had planned, but the seedlings started dying off in their tray. it looked a lot like some damp-off going on. I have 8 more plants in pots for experimentation - I'm going to see if topping and suckering them assists in leaf production, or harms it. With commercial tobacco, nicotiana tabacum, it helps. It makes the leaves grow bigger. No telling what it will do to this nicotiana rustica, hence the experimentation. I still have a few seedlings in another tray, but I'll get nowhere near the 60 I had planned.

I've not hit that gardening self sufficiency yet, but every season I learn a little more towards it.

The Afghan Blue poppy looks like it's forming a bud. It's only 11 1/4 inches tall. Should be between a foot and a half and 3 feet when it starts forming a bloom bud. For now, I'll blame the stuntedness on being potted instead of in the ground. But, being the only survivor (the only sprout, really, out of thousands of seeds attempted), I have to baby it until it sets seed, and that means keeping it in a pot so I can get it out of bad weather in a hurry.

My tiny patches of garden will need to be expanded for next year - this just ain't enough room to get enough into the ground. Luckily, I'll be able to do that, but I might need to get a heavier weight of garden weasel. I've bent the prongs on this lightweight one so many times I'm surprised they're still hanging on. Still, it did yeoman's work getting the ground busted that I did, so I'll count that as a win.

When stuff gets big enough to see, I'll throw some photos in.


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[Chiefsmom]

Man, we have just had crap weather up here!  Just had frost Sunday night!!!!!

So, I took the grandson's to the nursery Saturday to pick up flowers to make my own hanging baskets, and a few veggie plants I didn't start from seed.
They had so much fun picking out flowers and learning about Full sun/shade, ect.
I let them make there own baskets for their moms for mothers day.

I had this idea, for a border for the new herb garden.  So, while at my moms, I went out to the woods where the junk piles are, and found all her old wine bottles.  She used to make it, back when I was a teenager.  (it was god awful, but it would get you drunk!)

I got it finished last night, See thumbnail.


I'm not sure how well it will hold up here in MI, but I like the way it looks.

Hubby has the garden rototilled, so I should be able to start putting in the veggies.  Finally!  Fingers crossed for no more frost!
Oh, I know it looks pretty bare in there, but I have a bunch of seeds all over too. on the right of the picture, a honeybee mix, and inbetween and in front of the plants, German Camomile.

[Chiefsmom]

The goal is to get the garden in this weekend.  Finally supposed to straighten up, weather wise, and my plants really need to go in the ground.  They are so big, my pumpkin is flowering, so I have been pinching them off when I see them.

I also have 6 clones I just bought from a friend that will take up a lot of room in the middle of the garden, and I want to build some type of canopy over them for the fall, with clear plastic, so they don't get rained on before harvest.

@ Ninurta:
I don't "compost either.  When I clean the coop, if it is fall or winter, I put it right on the garden, and if it is spring or summer, I make a pile beside it, and leave it til winter.  Also, is the Afghan blue poppy a flower, like actually poppy, or a strain?


I haven't tried the worm composting either, as I don't do raised beds.  I do notice lots of night crawler holes in the garden when weeding, so they must like it.

Have to get the chicken wings clipped tonight!!!  My six new girls will not stay out of the garden, and I noticed them flying over the little fence.  They also found a small gap in the back fence to get in and out.  I thought chickens were supposed to be dumb?  LOL

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Ab, I am curious, with the wood raised bed you put in, how much of the log is buried?  And how long do you think it will last in the ground?  I mean, like here, my ground is heavily clay.  It can eat a painted fencepost in 5 to 7 years.