What Are Some Tips for Successful Gardening?

[Evo]

Everything is dead! We've had a week now of nighttime temperatures in the teens and this morning leaving for work was like driving through a Tim Burton movie.

The leaves on my beautiful pear tree have all shriveled and turned black, as has the peach tree.

All of the trees and bushes have shriveled up and turned black, I'm waiting to see how much permanent damage there will be, what was a gorgeous spring landscape a week ago is black and limp now, all color is gone. I've never seen anything like this. My roses are destroyed, even my stella d'ora lillies have turned to mush.

Now they're predicting snow next week.

 

[Astronuc]

Everything is dead! We've had a week now of nighttime temperatures in the teens and this morning leaving for work was like driving through a Tim Burton movie.

The leaves on my beautiful pear tree have all shriveled and turned black, as has the peach tree.

All of the trees and bushes have shriveled up and turned black, I'm waiting to see how much permanent damage there will be, what was a gorgeous spring landscape a week ago is black and limp now, all color is gone. I've never seen anything like this. My roses are destroyed, even my stella d'ora lillies have turned to mush.

That's heart breaking.

Our plants have wilted a little, but so far, I don't think we've lost anything.

Now they're predicting snow next week.

Hmmm. I think our weather has been more typical. The middle of the country seems to be getting the worst of this cold snap.

 

[turbo]

I'm sorry to hear about that Evo. I planted lots of fruit trees last spring and I would be pretty depressed if they had budded and bloomed and then got frozen. Trees can be pretty resilient, though, and hopefully yours will survive this.

 

[wolram]

If the uk suffers temperatures in 100s (as predicted) water supplies
will quickly dry up, and we will have wide spread hosepipe bans, so
maybe we should be looking for plants that grow in arid conditions,
so if i want fruit and veg what are some options?

 

[turbo]

If you Google on "drought resistant" combined with "fruit" and/or "vegetables" you will get more suggestions than you can wade through. The trouble is that English weather may not be kind to drought-tolerant trees, and you may have trouble with fungus, rot, etc.

If you like chili peppers, you're in luck. They are very tolerant of hot dry weather and can produce well in soil that is not highly nitrogenated.

 

[Evo]

If the uk suffers temperatures in 100s (as predicted) water supplies
will quickly dry up, and we will have wide spread hosepipe bans, so
maybe we should be looking for plants that grow in arid conditions,
so if i want fruit and veg what are some options?

Prickly pears (cactus) they are delicious.

 

[wolram]

Prickly pears (cactus) they are delicious.

So far i have found Tepary beans (whatever they are) and Mortgage lifter tomatoes, i guess with chili pepper Turbo suggested and your prickly pear i would not starve.

 

[Astronuc]

It's finally more like spring and garden preparation has begun.

In one week, we have gone from record floods to dry and windy weather, so dry in fact that there are now fire warnings! Parts of the basement floor are still damp, which indicates that the water table is close to the level of the basement floor. This past week, homes which have never had flooding in their basements were flooded.

 

[Zenparticle]

Astronuc- you seem like a good man, I have enjoyed and whole heartedly agreed with most of the things you have posted- kinda reminds me of my hippie dad~!

I love to garden- it feels good to get your hands dirty and kinda give back to the earth

 

[Astronuc]

I've been gardening since I could walk.

My father was a minister, and ministers didn't (maybe still don't) make much money, so we had to grow much of our food. We had a produce garden and raised chickens for eggs and meat, until we moved from the country into a suburban area. Then we just has a small garden.

 

[larkspur]

I am happy to announce that my bluberries survived!
My peaches did not

 

[turbo]

Good about the blueberries! They are loaded with antioxidants and are so good for you. I'm sorry about the peaches. I have planted peach and apricot trees on my front lawn (it will be an orchard, eventually) along with cherry trees, apples, plum, pear, etc. There are a few seed-and-berry bearing ornamentals out near the road, too, for the sake of the birds. I'll share with the birds, but I hope that the fruit trees bear heavily enough that we can share with them and still get a reasonable crop.

 

[larkspur]

Good about the blueberries! They are loaded with antioxidants and are so good for you. I'm sorry about the peaches. I have planted peach and apricot trees on my front lawn (it will be an orchard, eventually) along with cherry trees, apples, plum, pear, etc. There are a few seed-and-berry bearing ornamentals out near the road, too, for the sake of the birds. I'll share with the birds, but I hope that the fruit trees bear heavily enough that we can share with them and still get a reasonable crop.

Nothing like going out in your own yard an eating fruit right off the tree. MMMmmm!

 

[Evo]

My blackberry, raspberry and blueberry bushes were eaten by the JAWS OF DEATH. She also killed my grapevines.

My plum, cherry and apple trees were killed by deer.

My strawberries were all dug up by the JAWS OF DEATH.

The only thing that seems to be thriving is the silver nightshade. The animals avoid it.

Now I'm wondering if my mulberry tree is dead. They're messy, but I used to love to eat mulberries when I was little.

 

[turbo]

Nothing like going out in your own yard an eating fruit right off the tree. MMMmmm!

Yeah, even in an annual garden, there is nothing like walking out back with a salt-shaker and downing a tomato still warm from the sun, or maybe a cucumber. I love summer. Winter and spring are a food wasteland in which we are faced with the produce choices between bad and really bad. This year, we plan to can and freeze a LOT more to stay out of that dilemma. It's easy to devote too much space to fresh greens, etc, when they cannot be enjoyed later. It's smarter to devote more space to buttercup squash that keeps for many months and cucumbers that can be made into pickles, and tomatoes and peppers that can be canned for use all year 'round. Carrots are another good-storing favorite, and beets and turnips are, too. It's crazy to spend any space growing corn and peas, when we can buy them locally, and green beans are marginal compared to some of the storage vegetables, though we'll always raise some.

 

[Evo]

Everything is still dead.

I'ts remained in the 40's the past few days, and windy, I've never had to wear a coat at the end of april. The trees that didn't have their leaves frozen are still as bare as if it was mid-winter. It's like early February.

 

[turbo]

Sorry to hear that, Evo. Our weather is very odd, too. One day it's in the low 50's and the next day it hits 80. The birds are acting very strangely-especially the goldfinches. They are opportunistic about the weather and want to take the advantage to claim prime breeding sites, but they seem reluctant to move out of this spot and leave the security of the feeders, so we have a lot more goldfinches now than could possibly all nest in this area. I would stop feeding them, but they need the calories to keep warm during the cold rains and wet snows. We are supposed to get fog and rain tonight, running through Saturday, and with the already high flows in the rivers and the saturated snowpack in the woods and on the mountains, the river valleys are under a flood-watch. my wife has scheduled some vacation time around Memorial Day weekend so we can plant our garden, but with this weird weather, we may not be past the danger of frost by then. Last year we got almost no apples because our spring was so cold, and they were wormy because they had been pollinated by flies that laid their eggs in the blossoms, instead of well-behaved bees.

Now, I know that you and power tools are not a good mix, but this is an easy one. Go to a lumber yard and buy an 8' length of UNTREATED 4"x4" and have them cut it into two 4' posts. Pine is fine. Mark off a 3/4" x 3/4" grid on the top half of one face of each post and drill a 5/16" hole at every intersection of the grid lines. Set the drill bit so that it will not drill all the way to the other side of the post. You don't want the holes to go all the way through the post. Now take your posts and set them where the the drilled faces can get the morning sun. You won't have to bury the bases of the posts any deeper than 1' or so. Now you have a couple of nice nesting "apartments" for solitary mason bees. They are the best early pollinators around and are already here before the apple blossoms are ready to come out. They are the best pollinators for fruit trees because they will work when it's still too cool for honeybees to get real active. Mason bees do not live in colonies, but nest individually in cavities. The males do not sting, and the females will only jab you with their ovipositor if you handle them roughly. They are docile and will not even defend their nests, so they are safe around pets and children and you don't have to worry about the location of your nesting posts. Try to take enough time to get the holes smooth and clear of sawdust, so they'll be ready to move into. My father's apple tree did not get properly pollinated last year due to the cold weather and the lack of bees, so I made him a nesting post, too. Hopefully we get some thriving populations of mason bees going. Next, I'm going to build bumblebee nesting boxes.

 

[Mocket]

You and Moon Bear are really good writers,
All ideas are really neat and humorous !

 

[Art]

Anybody any good ideas how to get rid of snails from the garden? I have a broom shrub which seems to be a magnet for them. I pick about 50 snails a time off the thing and within days it is infested again. I thought about pulling the broom up but figure the snails would just move to their next favourite snack

 

[turbo]

Anybody any good ideas how to get rid of snails from the garden? I have a broom shrub which seems to be a magnet for them. I pick about 50 snails a time off the thing and within days it is infested again. I thought about pulling the broom up but figure the snails would just move to their next favourite snack

Probably your best bet is to police your property and remove any boards, deep grass, wet mulch, etc that can provide cool moist shelter for them, and maybe spread sand (or even better, nice sharp crusher dust - fine stuff produced by a rock crusher) in an area around the bush to keep them from sliming their way to the bush. Unless you reduce their habitat, though, they will continue to thrive and will move on to eat other things. Good luck!

 

[Anttech]

Anybody any good ideas how to get rid of snails from the garden? I have a broom shrub which seems to be a magnet for them. I pick about 50 snails a time off the thing and within days it is infested again. I thought about pulling the broom up but figure the snails would just move to their next favourite snack

Start eating them they will get the message after a while

 

[Astronuc]

We were out in the garden pulling weeds. I noted a number of new blackberry canes. This might be a good year. The rhubarb is now a few inches tall. Trees and other plants have budded out this weekend.

Blueberries and raspberry plants have open buds. Next weekend will be more cultivating.

Anybody any good ideas how to get rid of snails from the garden? I have a broom shrub which seems to be a magnet for them. I pick about 50 snails a time off the thing and within days it is infested again. I thought about pulling the broom up but figure the snails would just move to their next favourite snack

I was told to put out a saucer of beer. Apparently they crawl onto to it and die by drowning. Just use a cheap beer like Miller or Budweiser.

Beer-baited traps have been used to trap and drown slugs and snails; however, they are not very effective for the labor involved. Beer traps attract slugs and snails within an area of only a few feet, and must be refilled every few days to keep the level deep enough to drown the mollusks. Traps are buried at ground level, so the mollusks easily fall into them. It is the fermented product that attracts them and a sugar-water and yeast mixture can be used in place of beer. Traps must have deep, vertical sides to keep the snails and slugs from crawling out and a top to reduce evaporation. Snail and slug traps can also be purchased at garden supply stores

http://www.ipm.ucdavis.edu/PMG/PESTNOTES/pn7427.html

 

[turbo]

You don't need to buy traps, though. If you eat hummus, dips, cottage cheese, or anything else that comes in plastic containers with lids, you can cut a hole in the center of the lid, load the container with beer and bury them with the lids at ground level. Instant trap.

 

[Astronuc]

I came home this evening and found 3 good sized rabbits ~4-5 kg each in the backyard - two of which were in my blackberry patch. One was rolling around on his back taking a dust bath.

 

[turbo]

I don't have any garden-eating critters causing problems yet, but there's a lot going on here, beyond the birds, squirrels, and chipmunks. I have a pond in the back yard that is about 30x50 and averages 10 feet deep. When we moved in here, I put a minnow trap in the brook out back and trapped a few chubs (non-game fish) and put them in the pond to see if they would survive. They were about 2" to 3" or so when I put them in the pond. The originals are now over 6" and fat, and they school up with little ones, so they're breeding. The ice went out for good last weekend and the frogs have been having a rippin' orgy out there and the vegetation in the shallows is loaded with frog eggs. The chubs lurk in the weeds and make dashes into eat eggs, but the frogs are usually able to drive them off. We get almost daily visits from some mallards, and when the mallards fly in, the frogs dive for cover. I thought that the frogs were being overly cautious until I saw the mallards rooting out the frogs, flailing them around, smacking them on the water and then:
http://img233.imageshack.us/my.php?image=mallardfrogjm7.jpg

 

[turbo]

The weird weather continues. Today it was supposed to be in the 70's, but the temps went over 90 deg this afternoon. I took my Harley out for a spin this afternoon, but returned home in less than an hour because even riding the main roads at 55-60 mph was not very refreshing. I'm really glad that we moved out into the country! The prospect of getting stuck in the sun at traffic lights in 90+ deg temps would have kept me home for sure.

This weekend, we are forecast to get sun and temps in the low '60's. I'd love that, so I can finish splitting next winter's wood, but I'll believe it when I see it. My apple trees are leafing out, and the buds are showing tiny hints of pink. The problem is that there aren't many bees out yet, and the hummingbirds (males only, so far) seem to be just passing through. Last spring the apple trees blossomed just as it turned off very wet and cold, so they didn't get pollinated properly. (Fingers crossed!)

 

[Astronuc]

I don't have any garden-eating critters causing problems yet,

The rabbits seem interested in grass and other greens, but they have not so far chewed on the berry plants - but something has been eating the rhubarb leaves. I know we have deer, and other critters besides rabbits, but rhubarb leaves - with oxalic acid?

The blueberries and strawberries are flowering.

 

[turbo]

The rabbits seem interested in grass and other greens, but they have not so far chewed on the berry plants - but something has been eating the rhubarb leaves. I know we have deer, and other critters besides rabbits, but rhubarb leaves - with oxalic acid?

The blueberries and strawberries are flowering.

Strawberries here are just beginning to leaf out - blueberries are dormant still. Luckily, we have broad-winged hawks nesting on the lower center of the property, and they keep the rabbits nervous. No rabbit problem with the garden for the past 2 summers. The biggest problem with the blackberries seems to be the bears. They don't like to cross the road (apparently) so I've got those pretty much to myself, but the blackberries on the back side of the property can be decimated by bears (which may do some fertilizing, but crush and flatten a lot of canes in the process).

 

[Astronuc]

The strawberries have fruited. The blueberries have copious amonts of flowers, some of which have falled, so they have started to fruit. We haven't seen too many bees - even the bumblebees seem fewer.

The blackberry plants are sending up a dozen to two of new canes. I have them surrounded by mesh so that the deer don't mosey in a eat them.

Raspberries won't flower for a few more weeks. The rhubard is doing well, and whatever at the first few hasn't returned.

My son and I will be planting some hot peppers - probably tomorrow. He seems interested in making hot sauces, and I still have the habaneros from last year.

The lettuce is doing very well in the cool weather. We seem to be getting just the right amount of rain and sun at the moment. Thursday and Friday were sunny and mild, although we did have a thunderstorm roll through on Thursday, and there was isolated heavy downpours and perhaps a microburst or two. Some trees and branches came down. South of us, there were scattered power outages.

 

[Evo]

It's still too cold and wet to plant.

I'm still having to wear a jacket and the plants that survived the freeze are in shock.

All of my fruit trees lost their fruit in the freeze.