What Are Some Tips for Successful Gardening?

[turbo]

Planting around the compost is a great idea for those plants you want to win awards at the community fair.

The compost is mostly responsible for my 200 pound pumpkin (didn't win at the fair but was a big hit on Halloween!)

Ladies and Gentlemen... start your pumpkins!

The grass and weeds are thick and lush around the compost bins, so I expect that the rhubarb will do well. It's located under an ash tree, so it ought to get dripped on during rain storms but still get plenty of sun most of the day. Also, I try to keep the compost bins moist, so I've often got a hose over there and can give the rhubarb a drink at the same time. It looks like an ideal location. I love rhubarb and even as a kid, I didn't bother trying to sweeten it - it's great stuff. My mother used to make strawberry-rhubarb pie using our rhubarb and the tiny wild strawberries that we would pick when I was a kid. If she cooked down extra filling that wouldn't fit in the pie, I used to love to drizzle it over French vanilla ice cream. Mmm! Once the rhubarb is established, my wife and I are going to have to experiment with using it in berry/fruit pies with apples, wild raspberries, wild blackberries, etc.

 

[Borek]

My approach to gardening: let it grow. I love things like lilac or mock orange - at least here, once planted, they are hard to kill, yet they flower each year. Lilac is almost open :)

 

[baywax]

The grass and weeds are thick and lush around the compost bins, so I expect that the rhubarb will do well. It's located under an ash tree, so it ought to get dripped on during rain storms but still get plenty of sun most of the day. Also, I try to keep the compost bins moist, so I've often got a hose over there and can give the rhubarb a drink at the same time. It looks like an ideal location. I love rhubarb and even as a kid, I didn't bother trying to sweeten it - it's great stuff. My mother used to make strawberry-rhubarb pie using our rhubarb and the tiny wild strawberries that we would pick when I was a kid. If she cooked down extra filling that wouldn't fit in the pie, I used to love to drizzle it over French vanilla ice cream. Mmm! Once the rhubarb is established, my wife and I are going to have to experiment with using it in berry/fruit pies with apples, wild raspberries, wild blackberries, etc.

That's going to be some major zinger pie!

I'll be right over.

 

[baywax]

Just kidding. My mom used to pick rhubarb out of the lane where it grew wild. She'd make this gooy mess of it by boiling it and not adding enough sugar. I'd eat a bit and smile... then this huge shudder would run up and down my spine and I'd stop eating it. Can't stand rhubarb now.

 

[turbo]

Rhubarb is wonderful with wild berries. Sweet strawberry-rhubarb pie filling drizzled over a split biscuit with a topping of real whipped cream ... Mmm what a treat!

 

[turbo]

I planted two plum trees in the front lawn yesterday, to go along with our cherry, apple, peach, and apricot trees. They are all still saplings, but I have more patience than disposable cash - I can wait a few years.

 

[baywax]

Rhubarb is wonderful with wild berries. Sweet strawberry-rhubarb pie filling drizzled over a split biscuit with a topping of real whipped cream ... Mmm what a treat!

Mom never got so creative with the rhubarb. Its funny too because my dad was growing raspberries and everything else he dreamed of growing while he commanded tanks and killed nazis for 6 years during WWII. I guess betwixt the mom, the dad and the berries and the rhubarb (shudder) did never meet.

 

[baywax]

I planted two plum trees in the front lawn yesterday, to go along with our cherry, apple, peach, and apricot trees. They are all still saplings, but I have more patience than disposable cash - I can wait a few years.

What kind of plums are you growing?

 

[Evo]

At my last place I planted dwarf peach and plum trees and they produced the first year. I figured anything in a full size tree would be wasted since they'd be out of reach.

The pear tree I planted was supposed to be a fruitless flowering ornamental. For 10 years it looked sickly, wouldn't grow and always seemed about to die and never flowered, then 5 years ago it just took off and started producing tons of the sweetest, juciest pears I've ever had.

 

[turbo]

What kind of plums are you growing?

IIR, the variety I just planted is Denton American. They are highly recommended as pollinator-companions for hybrids that don't breed well.

 

[turbo]

At my last place I planted dwarf peach and plum trees and they produced the first year. I figured anything in a full size tree would be wasted since they'd be out of reach.

The pear tree I planted was supposed to be a fruitless flowering ornamental. For 10 years it looked sickly, wouldn't grow and always seemed about to die and never flowered, then 5 years ago it just took off and started producing tons of the sweetest, juciest pears I've ever had.

Some of this behavior can be due to the way pear trees and apple trees are propagated. Generally, the dwarf/ornamental varieties are grafted onto hardy non-hybrid root stock. Is its possible that the graft died back and the root stock threw out some branches?

 

[baywax]

IIR, the variety I just planted is Denton American. They are highly recommended as pollinator-companions for hybrids that don't breed well.

I inherited a pruning plum tree... that's the only name I know it by. Instead of spraying it with diazinon like the orchardists all around us, I used onion water that seemed to keep the pests at bay. In the old days I hear they used crysthanthemum oils as an anti-pest agent.

These were great to eat fresh off the tree.

 

[Evo]

I inherited a pruning plum tree... that's the only name I know it by. Instead of spraying it with diazinon like the orchardists all around us, I used onion water that seemed to keep the pests at bay. In the old days I hear they used crysthanthemum oils as an anti-pest agent.

These were great to eat fresh off the tree.

Those look like the plums on my little plum tree, before it died.

So sweet, but it was always a fight with the birds to see who'd get there first. The birds usually won.

 

[Moonbear]

I inherited a pruning plum tree... that's the only name I know it by. Instead of spraying it with diazinon like the orchardists all around us, I used onion water that seemed to keep the pests at bay. In the old days I hear they used crysthanthemum oils as an anti-pest agent.

These were great to eat fresh off the tree.

Those look like the plums my grandfather used to grow! If he'd leave them long enough to get ripe, they were very tasty, but he always picked them too early and too sour (he liked them that way ).

 

[baywax]

Those look like the plums on my little plum tree, before it died.

So sweet, but it was always a fight with the birds to see who'd get there first. The birds usually won.

Early bird gets the plum!

I really did have to leave them on there till end of july... right around when some of the pumpkins were starting to show promise. And, like you say, you can't stop the birds when you leave them on that long. I don't like nets all over the trees... its ok for hops... hops have a certain importance!

 

[baywax]

Those look like the plums my grandfather used to grow! If he'd leave them long enough to get ripe, they were very tasty, but he always picked them too early and too sour (he liked them that way ).

Yeah, I've had old timers tell me they like the really sour stuff... like those green apples and stuff... I just think that the Depression of the thirties made anything taste good... even Rhubarb... ha (just kidding Turbo).

 

[turbo]

I just wandered out onto the back deck to stand there and hang out (yeah, that's the ticket - no bladder issues, nothing to see here, folks) and was rewarded with the songs of the spring peepers. We have had the leopard frogs, the larger common tree frogs, etc, and now the peepers are singing. Spring is here! Our two back-yard ponds and the beaver impoundment 1/4 mile back in the center of our lot are loaded with frog eggs - now the peepers will join in. This year's early heavy snow-cover has helped the amphibians survive the winter, and I'm happy about that.

 

[Ms Music]

I inherited a pruning plum tree... that's the only name I know it by. Instead of spraying it with diazinon like the orchardists all around us, I used onion water that seemed to keep the pests at bay. In the old days I hear they used crysthanthemum oils as an anti-pest agent.

These were great to eat fresh off the tree.

I think what you have there is an Italian Prune. I have a few trees myself, and will miss them when I move. But I will definitely have to replace them with a new one at my new house. Italian Prunes are loverly! (I will send you some, Evo!) Although I have more problems with bee bites than birds...

 

[Moonbear]

They aren't prunes until they're dried out.

 

[turbo]

Yeah, I've had old timers tell me they like the really sour stuff... like those green apples and stuff... I just think that the Depression of the thirties made anything taste good... even Rhubarb... ha (just kidding Turbo).

Look, wise guy( just kidding), I grew up getting lectured by a father that was born in 1926 whose farming family had zilch, and a mother that was born in 1930 to a French-Indian family who emigrated to central Maine from northern Maine to try to find SOME work. We ate a lot of stuff that was wild/free/gleaned when I was a kid so we could get by. My dad was a WWII vet (he quit HS and lied about his age) who joined the 82nd Ariborne. My three younger sisters got a free pass with him, but I was expected to pull my weight in the garden every day from a VERY young age. Some heritage/wild fruits and vegetables can be made quite palatable if you'll work at them. Dried beans were a staple, here, and if you've never experienced them turned into New England baked beans by a master cook, you're missing a great experience.

 

[Ms Music]

They aren't prunes until they're dried out.

No really! There is a variety named Italian Prune!

http://www.raintreenursery.com/catalog/productdetails.cfm?productid=C120L"

I think they call the tree a prune because it does dry well... But don't call me a prune! <snicker>

 

[Evo]

Pictures from my patio garden.

Fuschia, impatiens, regal geranium, red impatien

http://img258.imageshack.us/img258/9200/fuschiapm8.jpg

http://img258.imageshack.us/img258/1277/impatienspinkyu6.jpg

http://img258.imageshack.us/img258/1751/geraniumregalbo5.jpg

http://img258.imageshack.us/img258/7159/impatiensredqd1.jpg

 

[Evo]

Vegetables.

Bell pepper, cucumbers, squash, tomatoes, eggplant.

http://img258.imageshack.us/img258/9913/bellpeppernv2.jpg

http://img258.imageshack.us/img258/7987/cucumbersqa3.jpg

http://img258.imageshack.us/img258/4089/squashyz9.jpg

http://img258.imageshack.us/img258/3987/tomatoeswm7.jpg

 

[baywax]

Look, wise guy( just kidding), I grew up getting lectured by a father that was born in 1926 whose farming family had zilch, and a mother that was born in 1930 to a French-Indian family who emigrated to central Maine from northern Maine to try to find SOME work. We ate a lot of stuff that was wild/free/gleaned when I was a kid so we could get by. My dad was a WWII vet (he quit HS and lied about his age) who joined the 82nd Ariborne. My three younger sisters got a free pass with him, but I was expected to pull my weight in the garden every day from a VERY young age. Some heritage/wild fruits and vegetables can be made quite palatable if you'll work at them. Dried beans were a staple, here, and if you've never experienced them turned into New England baked beans by a master cook, you're missing a great experience.

That's probably a good thing your dad did that with you. There's nothing more basic than gardening... it will always pay off. I'm just glad my dad didn't take after his dad who was a Surgeon during the first WW. My granddad performed the circumcisions on my dad and his best friend out in Saskatchewan when they were around 5! He built his own houses then became one of the first Surgeons out of the West Coast. The only way my dad could keep up with him was to join the Tank Regiment and try to keep the fascists out of North America. I have a feeling that was a bit of a pipe dream judging from some of the activities of late.

So, rather than perform circumcisions on me and my brothers, my dad would get us to chop wood and do the weeding, mowing, and tend the flowers. He kept is prized vegetable garden withe the raspberries and everything for his own pleasure. Like I said, he preferred the garden hoe to his trusted Tommy (machine) Gun and Sherman Tank.

And all our dad's egging on and demands have paid off. We are now able to produce some good crops etc...

Do you have any Herons eating your frogs? We've got quite a few. They clear out the frog/fish pond regularly... along with the Bald Eagles. Actually, the Bald Eagles scare the Herons into dropping their catch... then abscond with it. In reality the Bald Eagle is a member of the Vulture family.

 

[baywax]

Vegetables.

Bell pepper, cucumbers, squash, tomatoes, eggplant.

http://img258.imageshack.us/img258/9913/bellpeppernv2.jpg

http://img258.imageshack.us/img258/7987/cucumbersqa3.jpg

http://img258.imageshack.us/img258/4089/squashyz9.jpg

http://img258.imageshack.us/img258/3987/tomatoeswm7.jpg

[PLAIN]http://img59.imageshack.us/img59/6899/eggplantnb1.jpg[/QUOTE][/URL]

Hot dog! Beauties... I see you're in for a plentiful summer! No pumpkin!?

edit... I have to scan some photos of what I think of as my prize pumpkin... just before I
started gutting it... (cry)... for halloween.

 

[baywax]

I think what you have there is an Italian Prune. I have a few trees myself, and will miss them when I move. But I will definitely have to replace them with a new one at my new house. Italian Prunes are loverly! (I will send you some, Evo!) Although I have more problems with bee bites than birds...

Italian Prune Plum... yum yum.

Sorry to hear about the bee bites. I'd gladly see more bees around. I'm a big fan of Bee Pollen... it contains all 21 amino acids... bee keepers in Russia have been reaching ages like 125. Often the only thing they eat is Royal Jelly and Bee Pollen.

I have now seen 4 or 5 really big bumble bees around the garden... this is a good thing since, like I said earlier, last year I saw diddly squat for bees.

 

[baywax]

Pictures from my patio garden.

Fuschia, impatiens, regal geranium, red impatien

Your Fuschia is blooming!? Egads... mine is still sprouting from the
twigs left over from last year.

You must live further south, eh?

 

[Evo]

Your Fuschia is blooming!? Egads... mine is still sprouting from the
twigs left over from last year.

You must live further south, eh?

I cheated and bought the flowers already in bloom. The vegetables I grew from seed.

 

[baywax]

I cheated and bought the flowers already in bloom. The vegetables I grew from seed.

It would be cool to build a hot house and get started really early with some of these vegis etc...

Anyone build their own hot house?

 

[Evo]

I had a very nice green house, I'll post a picture of it later.