What Are Some Tips for Successful Gardening?

[turbo]

I would love to have a little greenhouse and attached potting shed, but the climate here is not really conducive. My chili-head neighbor started some habaneros in February, but had to do that in his house, because his greenhouse was still buried in snow. My option for seedlings is to patronize greenhouses that can afford to use space-heaters for a few months until planting season in late May.

Today, I found a deal on some nitrogen-rich fertilizer and dosed the garden space with that. I used a rapitest multiple nutrient test kit on the garden and found out that the pH is fine, the phosphorus level is fine, and the potash level is fine. I just needed more nitrogen, and luckily I found some "lawn greening" fertilizer that was really rich in urea-based nitrogen for cheap. I spread one bag of it with a Scott's hand-held broadcast spreader, and I have another bag in reserve.

 

[Evo]

Here's my greenhouse right after it was built.

 

[Andre]

Looks good Evo, great potential. Do you still have it?

Turbo, don't you have an option to have a greenhouse directly attached to the house, it would accumulate less snow and would use part of the heat that dissipates from the house.

 

[baywax]

Here's my greenhouse right after it was built.

Very cool... er... hot! Evo.

 

[baywax]

I would love to have a little greenhouse and attached potting shed, but the climate here is not really conducive. My chili-head neighbor started some habaneros in February, but had to do that in his house, because his greenhouse was still buried in snow. My option for seedlings is to patronize greenhouses that can afford to use space-heaters for a few months until planting season in late May.

Or invade the mud room, what what?

Today, I found a deal on some nitrogen-rich fertilizer and dosed the garden space with that. I used a rapitest multiple nutrient test kit on the garden and found out that the pH is fine, the phosphorus level is fine, and the potash level is fine. I just needed more nitrogen, and luckily I found some "lawn greening" fertilizer that was really rich in urea-based nitrogen for cheap. I spread one bag of it with a Scott's hand-held broadcast spreader, and I have another bag in reserve.

I've found my compost to be the best soil going. The problem is to collect enough of it over the fall and winter plus the left overs from years before to spread over a 600 sq ft. area where the veggies and and sunflowers etc... grow. The other option is leaving the compost where it is and growing mammoth pumpkins in and around it and purchasing soil for the rest of the working garden.

What do you think about turning weeds into the soil rather than removing them? They end up adding nitrogen etc... The worry is that they will seed there and grow even worse but if they're turned in before going to seed that isn't a problem.

 

[rewebster]

yeah---really nice. I don't know how many people want (or, at least, talk about wanting) one that I know, but a lot.

I can't tell--it wasn't heated, was it?

 

[RedBarchetta]

My garden?

Just a bunch of weeds.

 

[Borek]

Let it grow approach, welcome to the club

 

[turbo]

baywax, I compost all weeds that have not gone to seed, plus all garden waste, vegetable peelings, leaves, etc. My garden is over 1500 sq ft, though, so there's never enough compost to go around. I used all of last year's compost to fertilize my garlic bed, and the garlic appears to be doing real well.

 

[baywax]

baywax, I compost all weeds that have not gone to seed, plus all garden waste, vegetable peelings, leaves, etc. My garden is over 1500 sq ft, though, so there's never enough compost to go around. I used all of last year's compost to fertilize my garlic bed, and the garlic appears to be doing real well.

Excellent news Turbo. I think I asked this before but what type of garlic?

Here's my promised pumpkin photos plus the barn where some potting was done... and tractor parking.

The pumpkin with the shovel (200 lbs) is in front of the compost box that nurtured its growth. This was supplemented by the fact that I learned how you have to pinch all the flowers of the plant once you have gambled on one of the first pumpkins to develop. The rest of the flowers get pinched off to redirect energy to the selected one or two promising pumpkins.

The next photo of a pumpkin is one that was in the garden, (with less compost) and hadn't had its leaves pinched or most of the other flowers tended to. It still made it to 50 pounds.

The barn is the jewel of this property. This photo shows it in late Oct. however in summer it is covered in red and seedless green grapes. The concords were further south of there, o which there were so many, some were packed in grape leaves and sold at market.

Thanks! (edit) eh?

 

[turbo]

I have 1/3 of the bed in German garlic and 2/3 in Russian garlic. I had equal numbers of bulbs of each, given to me by my neighbor, but German garlic generally only develops 4 large cloves/bulb while the cloves in the Russian garlic are smaller and more numerous. Since German garlic only propagates 4:1, if I want to double my crop next year, I'll have to reserve a lot of the German for planting. That will be tough, because it is wonderful stuff. Those big cloves are great for baking. This shot was from a few weeks ago. The garlic greens are about a foot over the straw mulch now.

 

[baywax]

I have 1/3 of the bed in German garlic and 2/3 in Russian garlic. I had equal numbers of bulbs of each, given to me by my neighbor, but German garlic generally only develops 4 large cloves/bulb while the cloves in the Russian garlic are smaller and more numerous. Since German garlic only propagates 4:1, if I want to double my crop next year, I'll have to reserve a lot of the German for planting. That will be tough, because it is wonderful stuff. Those big cloves are great for baking. This shot was from a few weeks ago. The garlic greens are about a foot over the straw mulch now.

I guess the straw is a hedge against a late freeze? The garlic sounds scrumptious. Its great for keeping vampires, bats, wolves and women at bay all in one breath.

edit... it must be nice to have your attachments approved automatically.

 

[turbo]

Actually, the mulch is for winter protection. You plant garlic late in the year and mulch the beds. I planted mine in December after the ground was frozen and had to punch the holes with a heavy iron digging/pry bar and fill them in with compost after placing the cloves. It worked out well. I appear to have gotten 100% sprouting out of the planting. In the summer, the tops throw off a central shoot that starts to curl. When the shoots curl and the flowers are still not starting to develop, you cut off the shoots and cook with them. Mince them and include them in stir-fry dishes, casseroles, soups, or whatever. They are very tasty. Then after the greens start turning brown and drying, it's time to harvest the garlic and dry it. My neighbor's garage/woodworking shop smells heavenly when the garlic is drying/curing and I'm planning on using my little detached garage as a drying room.

Regarding the attachments - I honestly don't know how that works, but it is nice to be able to post an image and have it show up in the refreshed post.

 

[turbo]

By the way, baywax, that looks like a gorgeous piece of property. Nice gourd-growing, too.

 

[baywax]

Actually, the mulch is for winter protection. You plant garlic late in the year and mulch the beds. I planted mine in December after the ground was frozen and had to punch the holes with a heavy iron digging/pry bar and fill them in with compost after placing the cloves. It worked out well. I appear to have gotten 100% sprouting out of the planting. In the summer, the tops throw off a central shoot that starts to curl. When the shoots curl and the flowers are still not starting to develop, you cut off the shoots and cook with them. Mince them and include them in stir-fry dishes, casseroles, soups, or whatever. They are very tasty. Then after the greens start turning brown and drying, it's time to harvest the garlic and dry it. My neighbor's garage/woodworking shop smells heavenly when the garlic is drying/curing and I'm planning on using my little detached garage as a drying room.

Regarding the attachments - I honestly don't know how that works, but it is nice to be able to post an image and have it show up in the refreshed post.

Wow... garlic shoots in the stir-fry...agh... sounds really too good man... are you sure you're not Chinese?

A drying room is a great idea. If you have some fruit trees dry some apples or pears and stuff and any kids will gladly eat them like they're bad for you. When its actually a great way to get scads of fruit in the gullet.

As for the property, it is to die for and a dream and nirvana all at the same time. Its the neighbours you have to factor into the equation for sure. Next move I'm doing about 2 years research on the area and the cliques involved etc... this area is pure orchardists and farmers... their "deliverance" of hospitality is nothing like what one would expect from social animals.

Thank you mind you. The hill in the distance is a great hiking spot. The history around there is deep. The archaeology is deeper and the fishing will blow your mind. The vineyards are abundant and rivaling Napa Valley... check out the Okanagan Valley next time you're googling.

 

[turbo]

I hear you about the neighbors. I didn't scope mine out very well before buying this little place, but I lucked out. I have a neighbor with a nice shooting range with a shooting bench and I can use that any time. I have another neighbor who is heavily into organic gardening and he is the one who started me out with these varieties of garlic, and in return, I have been keeping him supplied with hot salsas and chili relishes, including some habanero relish that is almost all chili peppers with garlic, dill, other herbs, and sugars and vinegar. He gave me an old set of bent-up iron boat racks that he salvaged from the landfill, and another neighbor helped me cut and re-weld them to fit my truck. I helped both of them saw logs into boards with the gardener's Wood-miser sawmill, and the gardener has given me free access to his wood-shop with planer, jointer, table saw, chop saw, etc, etc. It's a pretty nice little neighborhood. My wife gets discount coupons from her company (New Balance Athletic Shoe) several times a year and we pass them out to the neighbors so that they can enjoy her employee's 40% discount at the factory outlet store. When I moved in here, I didn't realize that the tree-line on the Western edge of my property is loaded with nice Concord grapes - they are a bonus!

 

[baywax]

I hear you about the neighbors. I didn't scope mine out very well before buying this little place, but I lucked out. I have a neighbor with a nice shooting range with a shooting bench and I can use that any time. I have another neighbor who is heavily into organic gardening and he is the one who started me out with these varieties of garlic, and in return, I have been keeping him supplied with hot salsas and chili relishes, including some habanero relish that is almost all chili peppers with garlic, dill, other herbs, and sugars and vinegar. He gave me an old set of bent-up iron boat racks that he salvaged from the landfill, and another neighbor helped me cut and re-weld them to fit my truck. I helped both of them saw logs into boards with the gardener's Wood-miser sawmill, and the gardener has given me free access to his wood-shop with planer, jointer, table saw, chop saw, etc, etc. It's a pretty nice little neighborhood. My wife gets discount coupons from her company (New Balance Athletic Shoe) several times a year and we pass them out to the neighbors so that they can enjoy her employee's 40% discount at the factory outlet store. When I moved in here, I didn't realize that the tree-line on the Western edge of my property is loaded with nice Concord grapes - they are a bonus!

I can see all my old neighbours feeding the hogs in their white shiney New-Balance tennys... not!

Thanks Turbo... I am so up for a beer its not funny.. cheers!

 

[Evo]

My first crop of radishes failed! I have NEVER had radishes fail. These were Burpee Scarlett Globe. They produced nothing but matchstick thin roots. Supposedly they mature in 22 days. It's been 90 days and they never formed. I am going to have to pull them up and throw them out.

Anyone have any idea why this would have happened? I've grown radishes for years.

 

[Andre]

Well, since you know how to handle them, and having never seen a failed radish crop myself too, it's likely to be something awkward, like a fungus infection perhaps?

http://agron.scijournals.org/cgi/content/full/93/1/60

 

[rewebster]

My first crop of radishes failed! I have NEVER had radishes fail. These were Burpee Scarlett Globe. They produced nothing but matchstick thin roots. Supposedly they mature in 22 days. It's been 90 days and they never formed. I am going to have to pull them up and throw them out.

Anyone have any idea why this would have happened? I've grown radishes for years.

having even a little too much fertilizer can burn the roots--

and if they get dry for even a day when young will kill them too

 

[rewebster]

On nice mornings like this one was, I sit out here (second floor balcony on the front of the house)

looking down at the front yard

then I look over at the neighbor's:

(I've got a kilobyte camera, not a megabyte one)

 

[turbo]

Evo, what did you feed them with? Too much nitrogen can encourage production of leaves in some vegetables while inhibiting fruiting. I have to be careful with my chili peppers for just that reason. It's easy to get thick bushy plants with low chili yield.

 

[Evo]

Well, since you know how to handle them, and having never seen a failed radish crop myself too, it's likely to be something awkward, like a fungus infection perhaps?

http://agron.scijournals.org/cgi/content/full/93/1/60

having even a little too much fertilizer can burn the roots--

and if they get dry for even a day when young will kill them too

Evo, what did you feed them with? Too much nitrogen can encourage production of leaves in some vegetables while inhibiting fruiting. I have to be careful with my chili peppers for just that reason. It's easy to get thick bushy plants with low chili yield.

They are extremely healthy, they just didn't bulb. This is the only one that bulbed and it's a third of the size it should be. I used a low nitrogen fertilizer. They might have been too crowded according to this. Ok, I was trying to get more in less space.

http://plantanswers.tamu.edu/vegetables/radish.html

http://img161.imageshack.us/img161/8881/camerapictures048ub0.jpg

 

[Evo]

On nice mornings like this one was, I sit out here (second floor balcony on the front of the house)

looking down at the front yard

then I look over at the neighbor's:

(I've got a kilobyte camera, not a megabyte one)

Those are beautiful rewebster, well, except your neighbor's yard.

 

[rewebster]

They are extremely healthy, they just didn't bulb. This is the only one that bulbed and it's a third of the size it should be. I used a low nitrogen fertilizer. They might have been too crowded according to this. Ok, I was trying to get more in less space.

http://plantanswers.tamu.edu/vegetables/radish.html

http://img161.imageshack.us/img161/8881/camerapictures048ub0.jpg

[/URL]

'failed' , to me, means 'died' usually-


-it looks like too much nitrogen, or they are just 'not ripe' yet


_______

thanks---I like the "tropical" /southern 'feel' of it ---"lush"

 

[Evo]

'failed' , to me, means 'died' usually-


-it looks like too much nitrogen, or they are just 'not ripe' yet

That entire radish with leaves is only a few inches tall.

 

[baywax]

Evo, its likely what you think it is... over crowding. You see the same result when you have too many carrots together in one spot. The carrots are like toothpicks.

 

[rewebster]

That entire radish with leaves is only a few inches tall.

From the 'dirt' that's still on the roots, it looks like potting soil--and potting soil usually has nutrients for growth-----leaf growth usually. If you let them grow another week or so, they may produce a bigger 'radish'

____________________

The other thing is that if they're not in full sun, and the potting soil is used, they do have a tendency to grow more 'spindly'

 

[Evo]

From the 'dirt' that's still on the roots, it looks like potting soil--and potting soil usually has nutrients for growth-----leaf growth usually. If you let them grow another week or so, they may produce a bigger 'radish'

____________________

The other thing is that if they're not in full sun, and the potting soil is used, they do have a tendency to grow more 'spindly'

Since everything is in a container on my patio, yes, it's potting soil, but this doesn't have fertilizer added.

Radishes don't ripen, if you let them grow too long they just become woody.

Oooh, I forgot to mention that my oldest cucumber plant has been flowering for several days. They always have the male blooms first, and in a couple of days the first female will bloom, I can see it's tiny little cucumber. Why is it that by the time the first female blooms, the males stop flowering and you always lose that first one? I would have had several other cucumber plants around to fertilize them, but the squirrels sat on them.

 

[rewebster]

Since everything is in a container on my patio, yes, it's potting soil, but this doesn't have fertilizer added.

Radishes don't ripen, if you let them grow too long they just become woody.

Oooh, I forgot to mention that my oldest cucumber plant has been flowering for several days. They always have the male blooms first, and in a couple of days the first female will bloom, I can see it's tiny little cucumber. Why is it that by the time the first female blooms, the males stop flowering and you always lose that first one? I would have had several other cucumber plants around to fertilize them, but the squirrels sat on them.

that's just the way males are