What Are Some Tips for Successful Gardening?

[turbo]

You might want to Google search for a primer on this. I let mine grow wild with no pruning and they seem to produce just fine, even though I have to climb ladders to pick them from vines that have climbed into the trees. My neighbor trellises his vines and prunes them quite aggressively. Grapes like a lot of sun, and since we are so far north, he keeps the trees cut back so they won't shade the grapes, and he prunes the vines so that each one only has four "arms" - two about half-way up the trellis, and two at the top. Luckily, we got some nice sunny days in the fall and freezing weather held off until my grapes ripened and got sweet enough to eat. Needless to say, his grapes sweeten off faster than mine and they end up with a higher sugar content at harvest.

 

[Art]

Thanks Turbo

I had already looked at google but didn't find any easy to follow directions in the first few links I clicked on. Most seemed to presume a lot of prior knowledge whereas I'm a complete newbie when it comes to grapes.

Do you know when your neighbour prunes his? Straight after harvesting or after all the leaves have died?

Btw what would be a typical yield per vine?

 

[turbo]

I should have known that you'd Google, sorry about that. The best time to prune them is when the plants are dormant - during late winter to early spring, in the same time-frame when apple trees are pruned. I'm not sure what kind of yield to expect - last year is the first time we harvested grapes and the vines are huge tangle. I have not asked my neighbor about yield, but if I recall, there were probably 8-10 bunches on each of the leaders off the main vine, so 30-40 bunches or maybe 60-80#/vine might not be out of line.

This is all pretty rough, understand. I'm working to get my garden spot optimized and improve the yields of my wild berry patches, so I haven't spent any time learning about tending the grapes. I just watch them and taste them until they're ready. I may cut down the shading trees and build trellises some day, but that's pretty low on my priority list for now. The grapes would be perfect for wine-making because the purple skins are quite astringent, even though the green flesh is sweet. I juiced a bunch of them and froze the juice, and have juiced some of our frozen wild blackberries to combine with the grape juice - they are VERY good together and that mix goes well with some cider, with or without a little seltzer to punch it up.

 

[Astronuc]

Our blueberries are ripening and the bushes are laden. The blackberries and raspberries recently fruited, but are still green, and we still have flowers. My blackberries probably have over 3 dozen new canes. This year I surrounded them with mesh so the dear don't eat them.

Strawberry season is over, but there are a few late ones.

The garlic is doing well, and the first crop of lettuce is harversted.

Tomatos and hot peppers are coming along slowly.

And something - I think deer - keeps eating the rhubarb leaves. I'll have to place some netting around them.

Probably should have called the thread - The Farm Report.

 

[turbo]

Here is a picture of the garden from yesterday. I amended the soil with a whole truck-load of peat moss last fall and 400# of composted cow manure this year. Unfortunately, I misjudged the acidity of the peat moss and ended up with a low enough pH that some plants (peppers, tomatoes) initially did not thrive. I added lime and tilled that in, and now have 6.5 pH so the plants can more easily absorb nutrients, and they're looking lots better. I have 3 varieties of hot peppers this year, including lipsticks, jalapenos, and LOTS of habaneros - the salsas and canned hot peppers we put up last year are still holding out, except that wonderful batch of hot green tomato salsa, that I liked to put on about everything.

Just like last year, I hoed the soil up into wide beds so I have room to run the Horse between rows without wasting too much space. An added benefit is that if we get lots of rain, the plants won't be damaged by standing water. We had a couple of weeks of monsoon-like storms last summer that badly damaged my neighbor's garden and mine stayed in good shape.

Blackberries and raspberries have fruited and the blossoms are off. My apple trees seem to be doing well and are relatively free of pests. After every significant rainfall, I spray them with canola oil to smother bugs and their eggs, and it seems to work so far. Most all of the apples are free from signs of insect infestation. I hope this works well. Several people are keeping in touch with me about this, hoping to improve yields without insecticides, and I hope to help them make the switch.

 

[Astronuc]

Nice little spread Turbo.

I have to remember what hot peppers I planted - certainly habaneros, something like Hot Portugal or what. I am hoping some turn out superhot.

 

[turbo]

Thanks, Astronuc. I've pretty much got the garden spot up to snuff, now. The last owner simply put stuff in the muddy/clay soil and flogged them with lime and Miracle Gro. No wonder his garden looked like hell. This is our third year in this garden, and my wife remarks on how much easier it is to weed, now that the organics content is up where it ought to be. I can't get down on my knees to hand-weed because of the arthritis and missing cartilage in my knees, so she weeds around the plants and I weed every thing else (between rows and on the sides of the raised beds) with a scuffle hoe. If you don't have one of these in your arsenal, you should get one - you'll be glad you did.

Our really hot habaneros are Red Carribeans, and we're using a lot more of the canned ones than we had expected. They really light up a sandwich and are great for chile, spaghetti sauces, stir-fries, etc. They have a sneaky kind of heat with a little delay before you notice that your scalp is sweating profusely. I'm hoping for a bumper crop this year, so I won't have to ration them. I'm also going to keep an eye on people who are cleaning out their gardens this fall, so I can scrounge any green tomatoes they might want to dispose of. The green tomato salsa we made last year is fantastic on cheeseburgers, quesadilas, and about any kind of sandwich.

 

[Astronuc]

It's blueberry and raspberry season in the backyard. Normally it begins late June, but this year due to cooler nights, the season started this week.

http://img293.imageshack.us/img293/5716/blueberries1005890bw3.jpg

http://img293.imageshack.us/img293/5408/raspberries1005895qo8.jpg

 

[turbo]

Nice, Astonuc. My wife got a small bucket of roots and canes of raspberries from a co-worker last year and I planted them down back. They are doing well, though the canes are quite heavy for raspberries, and the berries are larger than the wild ones, with a flavor that is nowhere near as intense. The wild berries seem to be on track for a good year - especially the blackberries, since they flowered during a warm spell and seem to have fruited nicely, with good pollination. The great thing about wild blackberries is that they mature over a very long period, unlike strawberries, raspberries, and to a slightly lesser extent blueberries. If you get a stretch of bad weather or inconvenient circumstances when those berries ripen off, tough luck. At least the blackberries give you a good long time to pick them and scope out the upcoming hot spots. While they are ripening (a period of several weeks at least) I can easily pick a gallon a day in a few hours without getting out of earshot of my house.

This year, I planted a couple of clumps each of peppermint and spearmint near the western tree-line where the grapes grow. There are times (especially in the long cold winters) when I want a nice hot tea with no caffeine, and peppermint is tops, but the price for the good stuff is ridiculous. Hopefully, I can manage to develop a healthy patch of each that matures nicely with lots of aromatic oils.

 

[Astronuc]

I have brambles (creepers) with small and very seedy blackberries at the top of our property. The blackberries are very tangy.

I need to have an open deer season in my backyard, because they are now eating plants that they are not supposed to eat. They ate my wife's lillies. They ate the first year raspberry canes, and even the rhubarb, which is supposed to be toxic (oxalic acid).

We put mesh around the blackberries and as a result, we have about 4 dozen new canes. Otherwise the deer would have eaten them.

 

[Evo]

Here is a picture of the garden from yesterday. I amended the soil with a whole truck-load of peat moss last fall and 400# of composted cow manure this year. Unfortunately, I misjudged the acidity of the peat moss and ended up with a low enough pH that some plants (peppers, tomatoes) initially did not thrive. I added lime and tilled that in, and now have 6.5 pH so the plants can more easily absorb nutrients, and they're looking lots better. I have 3 varieties of hot peppers this year, including lipsticks, jalapenos, and LOTS of habaneros - the salsas and canned hot peppers we put up last year are still holding out, except that wonderful batch of hot green tomato salsa, that I liked to put on about everything.

Just like last year, I hoed the soil up into wide beds so I have room to run the Horse between rows without wasting too much space. An added benefit is that if we get lots of rain, the plants won't be damaged by standing water. We had a couple of weeks of monsoon-like storms last summer that badly damaged my neighbor's garden and mine stayed in good shape.

Blackberries and raspberries have fruited and the blossoms are off. My apple trees seem to be doing well and are relatively free of pests. After every significant rainfall, I spray them with canola oil to smother bugs and their eggs, and it seems to work so far. Most all of the apples are free from signs of insect infestation. I hope this works well. Several people are keeping in touch with me about this, hoping to improve yields without insecticides, and I hope to help them make the switch.

Very nice turbo!

Is my place in the basement ready?

 

[turbo]

I have brambles (creepers) with small and very seedy blackberries at the top of our property. The blackberries are very tangy.

I need to have an open deer season in my backyard, because they are now eating plants that they are not supposed to eat. They ate my wife's lillies. They ate the first year raspberry canes, and even the rhubarb, which is supposed to be toxic (oxalic acid).

We put mesh around the blackberries and as a result, we have about 4 dozen new canes. Otherwise the deer would have eaten them.

One word: Silencer.

Edit - Two words: Silencer, venison.

Edit2 - Silencer, venison garnished with blackberry sauce.

 

[turbo]

Since my wife went on vacation last weekend, we have made a concerted effort to get the garden weed-free. I have been running multiple nutrient/pH tests and have been amending the soil with organic nutrients to suit. So after a couple of days with showers (sometimes punishing, but no hail, thankfully!) here is our garden:

We have a variety of hot peppers that seems to want to grow the fruit vertically, and they are doing well.

And the Swiss chard is taking off like crazy.

Along the herb garden, we have planted bee-balm to encourage the presence of pollinators, and it is about to flower, and is already showing color and throwing scent to attract the pollinators. This is a VERY sexy (to pollinators) plant!

Last but not least, lots of our apples are getting a blush on them. I have been spraying the trees with canola oil to suffocate bugs and their eggs and larvae and hope to get a nice harvest of high-quality fruit with no pesticide. This is not an easy thing when you are growing apples with large commercial orchards 5-20 miles away that are using lots of pesticides to get their crops out as cheaply as possible. It will come back to bite them, as the bugs get resistant to the chemicals, and hopefully, I can gain the upper hand with ecologically-neutral tactics.

 

[Evo]

I have no garden this year thanks to the freak frosts and cold, wet temperatures though June. I lost all of my pears, peaches and plums, my neighbor lost all of their apples. Everything else in everyone's garden is stunted and suffering from mold.

Some of the apple and pear trees around here look like they won't survive, some have died and these were BIG trees, just such a shame.

Your garden is beautiful turbo!

 

[turbo]

Your garden is beautiful turbo!

I wish I could move you into the basement and put you into service weeding, berry-picking, and gathering fire-wood. Unfortunately, I calculate that probability as slightly lower than the chance that I would let my wife move a Chippendale's model into the basement with the promise to regularly detail the car, the truck, my Harley (include the JD 318 tractor, the Polaris ATP, etc?), and "other stuff"(?).

 

[Evo]

I wish I could move you into the basement and put you into service weeding, berry-picking, and gathering fire-wood. Unfortunately, I calculate that probability as slightly lower than the chance that I would let my wife move a Chippendale's model into the basement with the promise to regularly detail the car, the truck, my Harley (include the JD 318 tractor, the Polaris ATP, etc?), and "other stuff"(?).

 

[turbo]

Perhaps we could arrange a local position for you as chambermaid/waitress at a snowmobile/fishing/ATV-oriented enterprise with occasional berry-picking/weeding/wood-splitting duties... You might work into the role much like the Monty Python banker who moves into lion-taming through chartered accountancy.

 

[Evo]

Perhaps we could arrange a local position for you as chambermaid/waitress at a snowmobile/fishing/ATV-oriented enterprise with occasional berry-picking/weeding/wood-splitting duties... You might work into the role much like the Monty Python banker who moves into lion-taming through chartered accountancy.

That would do.

Have you seen the tv show "men in trees"? I just saw it last night and what a great show, she blew the entire town's power out trying to blow dry her hair. The show was hilarious.

 

[Astronuc]

I have some just like that. I need to find my list.

I'll get some pics tomorrow.

 

[Math Is Hard]

That would do.

Have you seen the tv show "men in trees"? I just saw it last night and what a great show, she blew the entire town's power out trying to blow dry her hair. The show was hilarious.

I like that show. It reminds me a little bit of Northern Exposure, which I used to watch religiously. :!)

 

[NeoDevin]

Heh, just found this online, check it out.

http://toppertwo.tripod.com/pop_bottle_pots.htm

I made a couple, I planted some mint (don't know how well it will do, might be too wet) in one, and I'm trying to root a strawberry runner in the other. I think the strawberry should do better in one of these than in a regular pot. My only concern is that it might not be big enough for a strawberry plant. Oh well, only one way to find out.

Edit: I'm also eventually going to try to grow some hot peppers in one too, and see how well that will work.

 

[Astronuc]

My Hot Chili peppers

http://img528.imageshack.us/img528/2646/hotpeppers1005902lb4.jpg


To the right are the habanero plants, and to the left are Thai hot in back, and in the fore just out of sight are Cayenne.

 

[turbo]

My Hot Chili peppers

To the right are the habanero plants, and to the left are Thai hot in back, and in the fore just out of sight are Cayenne.

So the ones standing up are Thai hots? My wife bought enough plants for a couple rows of habaneros/jalapenos, but then she bought a couple of flats of two other varieties - one is called Super Chili, and the other is the ones that stand straight up, and we don't have an ID on those.

 

[Astronuc]

The larger peppers standing are labeled as Hot Chili - which doesn't say much. The Thais are the shorter plants with dense foliage and flowers. They will be standing too apparently.

Here are some pics of the Thai plants. The Thais are the ones with the smaller leaves. In front (bottom of pic) are Cayenne, and to right are Hot Chili.

http://img158.imageshack.us/img158/8636/thai1005906wd3.jpg

http://img47.imageshack.us/img47/6918/thai1005905rs7.jpg


I'll need to get a closeup of the Thai peppers once they get going. They are supposed to be red when ripe.

 

[Astronuc]

My two biggest blueberry plants have ripened fruit, and the berries on four others will ripen in the next two weeks or so.

The raspberries have been ripening durin the last two weeks, and I've collected about a gallon of raspberries.

The blackberries are just now ripening. Several are rather large - ~ 1 inch (2.5 cm)

http://img504.imageshack.us/img504/5022/blackberries1005914rq9.jpg


The hot peppers are doing well, but a deer got its neck over the mesh and ate the tops of my cayenne pepper plants.


Someone I've known for a while recently retired and bought a farm/orchard. He grows cherries, apricots and peaches, which he sells at a local farmer's market. Two weeks ago I bought some fresh cherries and apricots. Yesterday, I bought some fresh apricots and peaches.

Breakfast this morning was oatmeal with fresh raspberries, blueberries and apricots.

 

[turbo]

My wild raspberries are ripening off well and are now ready for their first picking. Blackberries are green, but it looks like there will be a good crop starting in a month or so. Mmmm!

 

[turbo]

We had raspberry pancakes with maple syrup this morning! Mmmmmmmm!

 

[Werg22]

I absolutely hate gardening. I am very inept at manual work in general.

 

[turbo]

Perhaps you could be motivated to love gardening if you could set aside "instant gratification" and pursue the joys of eating a sun-warmed tomato off the vine or a crispy salad of lettuce, spinach, cucumber, and radish. If you have never had food like this, and have survived on store-bought crap, you have never lived. Today, I took a big bag of Black-Seeded Simpson lettuce and a big bag of baby beets with greens and a small bag of Provider green beans to my father. He had started some cucumber plants in his garden (we started ours all from seed) and he gave me 3 nice Straight-8 cucumbers to take home, so my wife and I had a nice green salad of leaf lettuce, scallions, and cucumbers for supper (with some store-bought tomatoes that frankly added little beyond color).

 

[baywax]

I don't know how many PFer's garden, but I have done gardening ever since I could walk. My father and my maternal grandfather both gardened. I helped my dad in the garden, mostly planting, watering and weeding (and harvesting) at first. When I was old enough to handle a shovel, I would help cultivate.

The first four years of childhood, we lived in rural areas, so gardening was quite natural. My father was a minister with a low salary, so the garden provided fresh fruit and vegetables for low cost.

Anyway, I have always enjoyed gardening, which for me is a spiritual experience. I use organic methods without herbicides or pesticides, in favor of natural insects and manual methods.

As of now, the perennials - Blueberries, Raspberries, Blackberries, Strawberries and Rhubard have come back to life. I was pleased to find that my meager efforts at propagating the blackberries seem to be finall working. I have done it incorrectly for 2 years, so I am hopeful now that they will finally take off. The raspberries need no help in this regard.

I am preparing one plot for a vegetable garden - my wifes tomato plants and lettuce. I will add some hot pepper plants.

I am preparing another plot for an herb garden for my wife.

Then I will be preparing a terraced area on the back hill - I am thinking tomatos, squash, zucchini, and whatever hits my fancy.

Astronuc, congratulations. There's nothing cleaner than dirt!

I've had a similar experience with my dad bringing me up a gardener.

At one time I had 3 varieties of grapes (red, green and concord), raspberries, strawberries, gooseberries, hazelnuts, pears, apples, apricots and peaches and walnuts going on my half acre. Then there was the regular vegi garden which produced all the salad varieties, sunflowers, and the full gamut. My personal challenge was to get into the local fair with a very big, heavy pumpkin.

I recommend the experience. Not that I made a dent in the competition who wax their pumpkins to keep the moisture in, feed it the local pets and you can only imagine the tricks these guys have to grow their 750 pounders or even 1050 lb mammoths.

Here's what I did to get my prize pumpkin to 200 lb. Snip excess leaves, grow it right beside your compost, water daily through the compost and directly at the stem base, water some more, pinch any flowering start ups of new pumpkins and prepare to be amazed! The thing is, you really want to pick the right candidate to start nurturing this way. So you need to let about 3 pumpkins start before you decide which one is going to make it to the finals of "American Pumpkin". Thanks for the occasion to remember these things.

edit: I forgot to mention the caterpillar that ate the tomato leaves. You could say we were growing those too! One was so green only because it ate about 4 tomato plants.(And tomato leaves are poisonous specifically to avoid being eaten) This thing got huge! When I found it trying to look like a tomato leaf I nearly jumped as high as the barn. It also had this menacing black spike sticking out of its ***.