What Are Some Tips for Successful Gardening?

[Evo]

Evo!

Pear crumble!

Make it as per apple crumble but only use a bit of sugar with the fruit (as much as you want on the topping) and use really ripe fruit and don't cook it down for nearly as long. A bit of lemon/lime juice will help bring back the tartness if the fruit has gone really sweet and squishy.

Mmmmmm, that sounds good.

 

[brewnog]

Mmmmmm, that sounds good.

Yip, I made it with 2 pears once, fed two of us but was definitely not a waste! Only takes a short while and a bit of preparation too, you expect it to be a chore like a pie but it's just not. Brown sugar is the way though!

 

[turbo]

Turbo, thanks for the tip on concern. I might give a try, if the bugs become bad.

So far the insect pests haven't been to bad this year, despite the recent rains. We now have quite a few catepillars, so I have to keep my eyes open. I found one slug in the strawberry patch.

Here in Maine the winters (in the past, anyway) can be severe, so insects have to be very tough to "winter over". Unfortunately, the winter was very mild, and the bugs survived in legions, so I've got to battle them or risk losing a significant part of this year's vegetables. I have just ordered a quart of BT (bacillus thuringiensis) - a naturally-occuring pesticide that starves leaf-eating caterpillars, worms, etc, by paralyzing their gut. The good part is that it is not harmful to bugs that don't eat the plants, so you can keep the beneficial insects while killing off the guys that can strip your prize habanero plant of leaves in a few days.

 

[Ouabache]

It turns out quite a few native/wild plants are edible. We even have "wood sorrel" which grows like a weed, but it is edible. It looks like clover, but has heart-shaped leaves rather than round in the case of clover.
http://www.way2go4.com/walking/uk_wildflowers/wildflowers_wood_sorrell.htm

I'd hadn't noticed wood sorrel before. Connecticut Botanical Society has a great gallery of images of wild plants. (here is their image of wood sorrel). I am familiar with another common sorrel, "sheep sorrel" it looks like this.

 

[turbo]

Need help with wild roses!

We were not living here at this time last year, and I have just found out that the weedy overgrown bank across the road from us is loaded with wild roses. I would love to have a hedge of them between the house and the road. Can I dig them up now and transplant them, or do I have to wait until they have gone dormant in the fall? They have very fragrant pink flowers and they would be a nice addition to the 10 fruit trees and 10 ornamental trees that I planted in the front lawn.

Lawns are a spectacular waste of resources, when you can be growing things that the bees, hummingbirds, and other animals love. I have to share my wild blackberries, raspberries and apples with a bear that lives "out back" and with numerous deer, but we all get enough. I can't wait until the peach, pear, and plum trees start to produce. I'll leave the "drops" and the animals will love them.

 

[Ouabache]

We were not living here at this time last year, and I have just found out that the weedy overgrown bank across the road from us is loaded with wild roses. I would love to have a hedge of them between the house and the road. Can I dig them up now and transplant them, or do I have to wait until they have gone dormant in the fall? They have very fragrant pink flowers and they would be a nice addition to the 10 fruit trees and 10 ornamental trees that I planted in the front lawn.
QUOTE]
Sounds like you've found some Rosa multiflora. They are quite fragrant while the flowers themselves are not very flashy..

I would say it is better to wait until the fall, but if you dig up a large enough root ball (with plenty of soil, secondary & tertiary roots), it would be worthwhile attempting to transplant now. They are pretty hardy and if give them some food (manure tea, or good NPK solution), and plenty of water, they should handy any transplant shock okay..

 

[turbo]

Sounds like you've found some Rosa multiflora. They are quite fragrant while the flowers themselves are not very flashy..

I would say it is better to wait until the fall, but if you dig up a large enough root ball (with plenty of soil, secondary & tertiary roots), it would be worthwhile attempting to transplant now. They are pretty hardy and if give them some food (manure tea, or good NPK solution), and plenty of water, they should handy any transplant shock okay..

Nope, it's not that species. These are the VERY thorny wild roses that are found on old (100-200 yr) farmsteads here, and that form the wild-rose maze in the gardens at Annapolis Royale in Nova Scotia. I want to get them out of their choked environment, transplant them, and nurture them if it will help them survive. They are being overshadowed by woody shubs, trees, etc. and I think I can make them thrive with some help. I just don't want to transplant them at a time when they need stability to survive.

 

[turbo]

To the people who want to control insects with safe alternatives: I can tell you that the organic-friendly canola-oil concentrate (made by Concern) has worked very well. There has been no further leaf-damage to my squash, cucumbers, peppers, beans, etc. Some of the damage (esp to the peppers) was done by some fairly large critters, but most was done by very tiny insects, resulting in lots of tiny perforations that could result in plant diseases.

Yesterday, I discovered a huge and thriving ant colony living in a bank on our lawn near some newly-planted fruit trees. They were busily stripping grass and other foliage, and instead of risking the loss of our new fruit trees, I mixed some cane sugar with Borax and spread it all around the holes. Today, I went out to check on them and found one ant where there had been hundreds visible yesterday, and he wasn't moving too fast.

For dishwasing, we use Planet dishwashing detergent. It is made with cocoanut oils, salt and sodium bicarbonate - certified biodegradable and it's NOT tested on animals. We have found that a strong solution of this stuff is also quite deadly to ants - you can spray it on them with hand-held spray bottle, and if you soak 'em, they're dead. This is OK to deal with spot infestations - if you've got a complex of ant nests, Borax and sugar will kill the whole colony, not just the foragers.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

I'm looking into algae farming for biodiesel. It might be fun and practical [maybe even profitable...at least for personal use] to start a test plot; say 1/2 to 1 acre. Still reading up on it though.

Water is not a problem around here, but the crops would have a lower energy yield as compared to crops grown in the south. Still, they [various groups pursuing this technology] are claiming yields in ideal conditions of up to 10,000 gallons of fuel feedstock per acre per year.

I'm told that grass seed farmers are lucky to gross $300 per acre per year.

 

[Ouabache]

Nope, it's not that species. These are the VERY thorny wild roses that are found on old (100-200 yr) farmsteads here, and that form the wild-rose maze in the gardens at Annapolis Royale in Nova Scotia. I want to get them out of their choked environment, transplant them, and nurture them if it will help them survive. They are being overshadowed by woody shubs, trees, etc. and I think I can make them thrive with some help. I just don't want to transplant them at a time when they need stability to survive.

Okay i didn't have the capability to include links when I made my last post,
For those who have not seen the common wild rose Rosa multiflora. Here is an http://www.main.nc.us/graham/wildflowers/White/Multiflora%20Rose%201%20(Rosa%20multiflora)%20Rose%20Family.JPG .

Another wild rose (also called beach rose) grows typically near the Atlantic coast (and does have large thorns) is Rosa rugosa. Perhaps you are seeing that one? Here is an http://www.oldheirloomroses.com/rugosa_files/rug_rubra_bush.jpg with their fruit called hip, that are often used in tea and can also be made into jelly.

The same suggestions I gave for muliflora I suggest for rugosa. They are a really hardy variety so if that is the variety, it may be worth your while to transplant a few now and see what happens. Just cut a nice ball of soil around the roots, feed it and water generously..

 

[turbo]

Another wild rose (also called beach rose) grows typically near the Atlantic coast (and does have large thorns) is Rosa rugosa. Perhaps you are seeing that one? Here is an http://www.oldheirloomroses.com/rugosa_files/rug_rubra_bush.jpg with their fruit called hip, that are often used in tea and can also be made into jelly.

Yep, that's the one. If anyone can get to the Royal Gardens in Annapolis Royale, Nova Scotia when wild roses are in bloom, DO IT! They have a hedge maze made out of wild roses, and it looks and smells great.

The same suggestions I gave for muliflora I suggest for rugosa. They are a really hardy variety so if that is the variety, it may be worth your while to transplant a few now and see what happens. Just cut a nice ball of soil around the roots, feed it and water generously..

OK, I'll give it a go. I may have to let my wife's annuals do their thing first, then use that plot for a rose hedge.

 

[Evo]

Here is my greenhouse just as it was finished (which I no longer have).

My woodstove that I had installed at my old house, I loved that thing.

 

[wolram]

The flower girl planted my hanging baskets and flower pots tother day so
now i have flowers, and she said i have a grape vine growing next to my rose tree, how do you look after a grape vine and will i have grapes?

 

[wolram]

Here is my greenhouse just as it was finished (which I no longer have).

My woodstove that I had installed at my old house, I loved that thing.

Cool, i love big open fires, one that big would vaporise every thing in my little room

 

[Astronuc]

I discovered blackberries on our wild brambles. I knew we had the brambles, which occasionally have small berries, but this year for some reason, the berries are more plentiful and the brambles are much thicker. Maybe its the rains we've had for the last month. The wild blackberries certainly taste different than the cultivated ones. The cultivated (thornless) blackberries have fruited, but it will be at least a couple of weeks before the fruit ripens.

The blueberries and raspberries are ripening and we are now collecting Japanese beetles in addition to blueberries and raspberries. Strawberry season is more or less over. The smaller strawberries (everbearing) are still there, but the plants with the larger strawberries are done for this year.

I harvested a couple of zucchini two days ago. I have 4 zucchini plants and 4 summer squash that are doing quite well. Each plant has several zucchinis or squash. Some of the first fruit didn't mature.

I also planted some more hot pepper plants - habañero, serrano, kung pao, and a hot Portugal pepper plant. The serranos already have fruit.

 

[turbo]

Here is a picture of our garden. Everything is planted in wide raised rows - which saved the garden because it helped drain soil after the torrential rains we got most of last month. First baby peas were today, we've been freezing swiss chard and spinach for the winter, and the lettuces, spicey greens, radishes and arugula have been great. We have literally dozens of tomato plants and hot pepper plants as well. the habaneros and jalapenos are flowering, as are the string beans.

http://img104.imageshack.us/img104/7224/garden0014tf.jpg

 

[turbo]

Here is a quick shot of our perennial herb garden. There was a relatively flat area on top of a steep-sided berm. The steps down from the deck land on that berm, but it was too steep and slippery to walk down the slope to the lawn, especially when the grass was wet. I had decided to build a landing and a short flight of steps down to the lawn, but it looked ugly (in my imagination), so I rounded up a bunch of slate from out back and made a landing out of bedded stone, and embedded slate steps into the bank. Then I made a slate walkway the length of the berm, dug out most of the dirt between the stone and the foundation and filled it with composted cow manure and topsoil. Now my wife has a place to plant perennial herbs. The annuals are all growing in pots up on the deck, as are the cherry tomatoes - those plants are huge. It looks like maybe an average year for wild raspberries, but there is a bumper crop of wild blackberries. There is a black bear out back, and he'll get his share of them, but he can't get them all.

http://img109.imageshack.us/img109/7172/garden0034dy.jpg

 

[arildno]

My garden grows sort of downwards, flowers tilting. Is that normal?

 

[turbo]

It depends on the types of flowers. Some flowering plants are kind of droopy-looking because when they are in bloom, the weight of the petals and heads are more than the stems can hold upright.

 

[Astronuc]

Here is a picture of our garden. Everything is planted in wide raised rows - which saved the garden because it helped drain soil after the torrential rains we got most of last month. First baby peas were today, we've been freezing swiss chard and spinach for the winter, and the lettuces, spicey greens, radishes and arugula have been great. We have literally dozens of tomato plants and hot pepper plants as well. the habaneros and jalaoenos are flowering, as are the string beans.

Very nice, Turbo! I need to post my pictures.

I picked a pint of blueberries - from one plant - and that is about one quarter of the berries on that plant. The other plants have lesser amounts. The berries vary in size from about 1/2-3/4 inches (1.2 - 1.7 cm). I also picked half a pint of raspberries, but there are still lots more to ripen yet. I have smaller amount of wild blackberries and the cultivated ones have yet to ripen.

Our lettuce is doing great - thanks to the cool weather. We have 4 large heads of lettuce - it's salad time. The sugar peas are doing well - we should have planted much more.

I also need to post a picture of our herb garden. The lovage and fennels are about 5-6 feet high!

The zucchini and squash are doing really well too.

I found a site that suggested using rhubarb leaves (oxalic acid) as a natural insecticide. It suggests chopping (shredding) the leaves and boiling them to extract the oxalic acid. I am trying a variation by just putting the leaves on the ground around the zucchinin and squash. I'll let you know how it works out, but it seems to be working.

I got to go mulch the peppers, zucchini and squash.

 

[Astronuc]

My garden grows sort of downwards, flowers tilting. Is that normal?

Are the petals or leaves wilting? If so, the plants may need water. Some large flowers do cause the stems to bend, as turbo mentioned.

 

[arildno]

Are the petals or leaves wilting? If so, the plants may need water.

But they DO get water. Nice, salty, fjord water. Is that wrong?

 

[Astronuc]

But they DO get water. Nice, salty, fjord water. Is that wrong?

If it's salty water, then the salt water draws the water out of the plant, unless the plant is of a type that lives in salt water. Some how I doubt that.

Most plants need fresh water - no salt. Mangroves and a few other plants actually thrive in salt water.

 

[turbo]

arildno - let go of his leg! Salty fjord water indeed. No wonder your plants look droopy - you're growing kelp!

 

[arildno]

arildno - let go of his leg! Salty fjord water indeed. No wonder your plants look droopy - you're growing kelp!

Was it his leg I was holding?
Okay, he's getting it back now.

 

[Astronuc]

arildno - let go of his leg! Salty fjord water indeed. No wonder your plants look droopy - you're growing kelp!

I should have said - not too many terrestrial plants are adapted to salt water. There are certainly plenty of marsh plants that are, but the mangroves and mangals are most interesting.

 

[turbo]

We tilled and weeded the entire garden this morning (over 1500 sq ft), and planted snap beans, beets, and chinese radishes for second crops of each. When the peas are done, we will compost the plants, and replant those rows with more Swiss chard and spinach - for eating fresh and freezing for the winter. Fresh-frozen Swiss chard is wonderful! Get some water boiling while you wash the chard, dunk a wire basket of chard in the boiling water briefly to blanch it, then rinse it in very cold water to arrest the cooking, pack it in sandwich bags and put them in the freezer. You cannot buy commercially-frozen greens that taste as good, and the "fresh" greens that you get in the winter up here come from a thousand miles away by truck. Hardly "fresh".

 

[turbo]

We had our first big batch of sweet peas yesterday, and there are tiny string beans everywhere on the bean plants. We're going to get swamped by them. The zucchinis are about 3" long and there are 1" cucumbers everywhere. Our habaneros have not yet blossomed, but there are peppers on all the jalapeno and bell pepper plants. All the prep work this spring (spreading and tilling in 400" of composted manure, 400" of peat moss, and 150" or so of organic fertilizer) is paying off. The garden spot was mostly clay and rock when I started, with a high pH. The previous owner simply planted stuff, and hit them with lime and Miracle Gro and never had the soil tested. It's only $12 for a very detailed analysis from the state lab, and they send back not only the analysis, but recommended application rates for both commercial and organic additives to correct any problems.

 

[Astronuc]

We had our first big batch of sweet peas yesterday, and there are tiny string beans everywhere on the bean plants. We're going to get swamped by them. The zucchinis are about 3" long and there are 1" cucumbers everywhere. Our habaneros have not yet blossomed, but there are peppers on all the jalapeno and bell pepper plants. All the prep work this spring (spreading and tilling in 400" of composted manure, 400" of peat moss, and 150" or so of organic fertilizer) is paying off. The garden spot was mostly clay and rock when I started, with a high pH. The previous owner simply planted stuff, and hit them with lime and Miracle Gro and never had the soil tested. It's only $12 for a very detailed analysis from the state lab, and they send back not only the analysis, but recommended application rates for both commercial and organic additives to correct any problems.

My zucchinis and summer squash are of varying length - some new fruit as well as mature. The muture ones are about 8-10" long, and maybe some longer. I pick them one or two at a time.

We've had sugar peas for the last month. My wife just pops out to the garden and harvests a handful and we snack on them.

The seranos are doing well and my habañeros, Portugal hot, and kung pao are just starting to flower - I started late.

On the berry side, I've been harvesting raspberries and blueberries. We are also collected hundreds of Japanese beetles which really like the raspberries and rhubarb. They recently started going after the basil. We don't use insecticides because of the bees, butterflies, other beneficial insects and birds - not to mention ourselves. We will probably use pyrethrums on some ornamental shrubs and the Japanese Maple.

Our soil is mostly clay, and we have amended with composted manure, peat moss, and some organic topsoil. We also make our own compost of grass, oak and maple leaves, and kitchen/table scraps.

 

[turbo]

Our soil is mostly clay, and we have amended with composted manure, peat moss, and some organic topsoil. We also make our own compost of grass, oak and maple leaves, and kitchen/table scraps.

I bought a plastic compost bin from the county extension service (only $35), and I may have to get another one. We are getting quite a bit of organic material, with leaves, grass clippings, scraps, weeds, and the volume is not reducing quite as quickly as we are adding to it.