What Are Some Tips for Successful Gardening?

[baywax]

If and when small dogs or rats are ruining the garden we are lucky enough to have
the wide-mouthed wood ducks to eliminate the problem.

 

[rewebster]

your garden has really taken off, it looks like, turbo

 

[turbo]

your garden has really taken off, it looks like, turbo

Yeah, it has! It was in a death spiral what with all the cold weather, the torrential rains, and the lack of sun. I've got the soil built up as well as can be, though, and all it took was a week or two of heat and sun to perk things up. I'm worried about the habanero plants because they started out really small and seemed to have stalled even though the other peppers are thriving. Habanero relish is my favorite condiment for hot dogs, cheeseburgers, etc, and it's really going to stink if the crop comes up short.

 

[turbo]

If and when small dogs or rats are ruining the garden we are lucky enough to have
the wide-mouthed wood ducks to eliminate the problem.

I'll have to start raising those to keep the rabbit-foraging to a minimum.

 

[baywax]

I'll have to start raising those to keep the rabbit-foraging to a minimum.

Your garden is the best Turbo...

What do you do about the "Tomato Horn Worm"... I found one huge one that had taken 2 tomato plants out... it was almost transparent with leaf juice... very fat and about the size of this one... with a big black horn on its backside..

 

[turbo]

I have lost a tomato plant and two nice chili pepper plants to those rascals. I don't use chemical insecticides, so I go out at night to see if I can find any of them and squash them. There has been no more damage in the past week, so maybe I'm out of the woods. I've got some caterpillar-specific BT spore concentrate, but during the weeks of rain, the stuff got washed off as soon as I applied it, and the caterpillars had free rein.

 

[Evo]

If and when small dogs or rats are ruining the garden we are lucky enough to have
the wide-mouthed wood ducks to eliminate the problem.

Those are scary!

Your garden is the best Turbo...

What do you do about the "Tomato Horn Worm"... I found one huge one that had taken 2 tomato plants out... it was almost transparent with leaf juice... very fat and about the size of this one... with a big black horn on its backside..

My assasin bug killed most of them and I picked off the others. Those things are voracious eaters.

turbo, wish I had some birds in my plants, that's a pretty one.

 

[turbo]

turbo, wish I had some birds in my plants, that's a pretty one.

The phoebes generally catch their food "on the fly" and I have seen them catch Japanese beetles in mid-air. The yellowthroats are pretty content to patrol my vegetable plants, and I'm glad to have their help. They are very efficient, and they can find caterpillars and beetles in places that I would have a hard time searching. I'd pay them if I could. Actually, I have two ponds near the garden so they have water available, and the garden is a pretty good "bug magnet" - kind of an insectivore diner. They have a safe place to eat nice bugs that are not laced with insecticide, so in a sense, they are getting "paid".

There are more yellowthroat pictures in the Wildlife Photos thread, including a shot of a female with a Japanese beetle in her beak, calling softly to a chick.

 

[rewebster]

at least we have almost the same types of weeds--except for that five (approx.) leafed one on the middle right, I have never seen that variety around here---what is it?

 

[turbo]

at least we have almost the same types of weeds--except for that five (approx.) leafed one on the middle right, I have never seen that variety around here---what is it?

I've got to 'fess up... Except for common weeds like plantain, mustard, etc, I'm pretty much ignorant. My rule is "If they ain't vegetables, they's weeds."

 

[baywax]

Your's is the nobler solution. I only found one but it did major damage, prize plants down its gullet. I think I sicked it on the neighbouring red-neck orchardist.

 

[Evo]

I picked these from my garden yesterday.

http://img521.imageshack.us/img521/4753/cucumber1dg9.jpg

 

[turbo]

Woohoo! I'd like to have a few rows of bell peppers like that. They're coming along nicely, but we need a lot of heat and sun to grow peppers, and getting them to fully mature requires a long and cooperative (no frosts) season.

 

[Evo]

Woohoo! I'd like to have a few rows of bell peppers like that. They're coming along nicely, but we need a lot of heat and sun to grow peppers, and getting them to fully mature requires a long and cooperative (no frosts) season.

That bell pepper is bigger than my hand. It's a Keystone Giant. The down side is that's the only bell pepper that plant has produced, Perhaps now it will set more.

 

[rewebster]

That bell pepper is bigger than my hand. It's a Keystone Giant. The down side is that's the only bell pepper that plant has produced, Perhaps now it will set more.

you've paid for the plant, now, at least--and home grown!

 

[turbo]

you've paid for the plant, now, at least--and home grown!

Produce prices add up quickly, and you can't buy home-grown quality in a store. If this year's Bell peppers can match last years, I expect at least 6-8 full-sized peppers per plant, with at least half of them ripening or fully ripe. There is nothing like a garden-ripened red Bell pepper chopped into a cold salad!

The Hungarian Wax peppers are getting quite large and are developing rapidly. We had one tonight in a stir fry of summer squash, onion, parsley, garlic-scape pesto, etc. Mmm! The Hungarians are quite mild but tasty. The heat is about on a par with jalpenos, and they are quite large - maybe 5-6" long even this early in the season. I expect that they will join the jalapenos in my dill-pickled chili recipe.

 

[baywax]

Nice pepper etc... Evo... that would be near impossible to grow outside here. I'm amazed that some people pull off cauliflower and brussel sprouts up here... in the land of the Igloo.

Here's a coincidental story about how deadly those caterpillars can be... scarier than the wide-mouthed dingle duck...

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/capress/080714/health/health_killer_caterpillars

 

[Evo]

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/capress/080714/health/health_killer_caterpillars

She was barefoot in a Peruvian jungle? Or at the least wearing sandles that allowed her feet to touch the ground?

 

[turbo]

We should have a good crop of grapes this year as long as the weather cooperates. The season is short, so I have to let them endure a few light frosts before they're ripe enough to pick. The vines are growing all through the trees on the north side of my garden.

baywax, your state has some advantages for cold-tolerant crops like cabbage, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, broccoli, etc. These plants can be transplanted quite early in the year, and your latitude allows much more sunlight/day than we can get.

 

[Evo]

I miss my grape vines!

 

[turbo]

I miss my grape vines!

You can't miss mine! The rascals climb 20-30 feet into the trees, so if you want those nice ripe purple grapes, you have to use a ladder for a lot of them. Once the bunches start ripening, they stick out like a sore thumb. Often, the branches of the trees are bent or broken from the weight of all the grapes. Aspen, birch, etc, just aren't built to handle that load.

 

[rewebster]

I miss my grape vines!

if you're going to be there where you live (and if you can find a 'safe' route down), plant some down in the 'The Evo Canyon'--they take off pretty well after two years

 

[Evo]

if you're going to be there where you live (and if you can find a 'safe' route down), plant some down in the 'The Evo Canyon'--they take off pretty well after two years

They have a guy that goes down there with a weed eater to keep things neat.

I have spread some of my plants off of the patio and onto the grass and rocks on the south side. The guy mowing is cool about it. I keep the little bit of grass around them trimmed myself. I just needed more sun.

 

[baywax]

I miss my grape vines!

Yeah... I totally miss my grape vines. By now they've strangled the barn.

 

[Borek]

My wine grows like crazy, something like Turbo described. It strangles my lilac at the moment.

 

[baywax]

My wine grows like crazy, something like Turbo described. It strangles my lilac at the moment.

It looks like they're strangling your head in the photo!

 

[turbo]

One tip for people who have Japanese beetle infestations - plant sunflowers. We planted them at the ends of the rows of the vegetable garden, and I find Japanese beetles eating the sunflower leaves rather than the vegetable leaves. They like these giant sunflowers, leaves of fruit trees, and leaves of our raspberry bushes. I don't know if planting the sunflowers along the garden is the best plan, but they might act as a natural "sacrificial" barrier by giving the Japanese beetles something to eat instead of the vegetables.

I just weeded about 1/2 the garden, and noticed that we have tiny string beans, already about 1" long. Wooh!

 

[Borek]

That's only if you don't like sunflowers

 

[turbo]

That's only if you don't like sunflowers

We're growing the sunflowers for the birds - they'll get plenty of seeds. Actually, they get them year-round at my feeders, but it's nice to give them a more natural food-gathering experience. Instead of killing thistles, I let them grow to attract pollinators and eventually to provide wild thistle seeds for the finches. They love those.

 

[rewebster]

We're growing the sunflowers for the birds - they'll get plenty of seeds. Actually, they get them year-round at my feeders, but it's nice to give them a more natural food-gathering experience. Instead of killing thistles, I let them grow to attract pollinators and eventually to provide wild thistle seeds for the finches. They love those.

I get them even growing in my yard in town---but, sorry young thistles, I like going barefoot too much.