What Are Some Tips for Successful Gardening?

[turbo]

Here is how I spent my day. This is only the first basket of grapes that I juiced. I made grape juice all day until our available freezer space was pretty much consumed. The juicer is called the "Professional" model 6001 by Waring, but notice the trade name. Hey! if it's good enough for Wile E. Coyote... Here's the link if anybody is looking for a heavy-duty juicer at a bargain price. Everything that comes in contact with the food is stainless steel with the exception of the (apparently nylon) clutch knob that secures the cutter disk to the drive shaft. My sister's juicer has lots of plastic parts, and it's a pain in the butt to clean, so we never used it much. This one is very solid and well-built, with a minimum of parts to clean.

http://buyitnow64.stores.yahoo.net/wapjprjustst.html

http://img61.imageshack.us/img61/2917/grapesrw1.jpg

 

[turbo]

We still have lots of carrots, and my wife just finished juicing a good batch of them with a melon, apples, oranges, and a lime. Tasty! No cabbage or parsley to wreck this batch. We had one of our buttercup squash for supper with steak and potatoes, cole slaw and bread-and-butter pickles with jalapenos. The cole slaw and pickles are wonderful together!

 

[turbo]

I just got in my last gardening "fix" of the season. I spread and tilled 1-1/2 cubic yards of (very) compressed sphagnum peat moss on the 1500 ft² garden, raked it out and then deep-tilled it. I'll add more composted manure in the spring before planting time, but I wanted to get the organic content of the soil up a bit to help with aeration and drainage in case next spring is really wet like this last one was.

 

[Pythagorean]

I just got a ****ake mushroom log from Oklahoma. So far, it's been hard to get going because it's so dry here (and putting a bag over it to retain moisture results in molding). I'm going to have to try shocking it again after it's rest period is over.

I've harvested the previously mentioned plants. For my first time, I'm pretty happy with the harvest. In the curing state right now. I'd post pictures, but I don't want to raise any spooky flags (i'm totally lying just to sound cool over the internet anyway, for those spooks listening)

 

[Astronuc]

For my first time, I'm pretty happy with the harvest. In the curing state right now. I'd post pictures, but I don't want to raise any spooky flags (i'm totally lying just to sound cool over the internet anyway, for those spooks listening)

That makes good sens

 

[turbo]

I'm really glad that I tilled in the peat moss yesterday instead of waiting to do the tilling this morning. The forecast said that it would start raining in the afternoon today and continue through the evening, with high winds and thunderstorms. Apparently, the rain didn't hear the forecast, because it's been coming down hard all day since early morning. We are told to expect several inches of rain with flood watches in effect, and gusts of up to 60mph are in the forecast, with the wind direction changing throughout the day and night. I've got my generator fueled up, because we are almost guaranteed to lose our power. Since we are on a lightly-populated back road, we are usually among the last in town to get our power back.

 

[Astronuc]

We have a number of bird feeders and suet cakes in the yard. There are lots of birds of numerous varities busy preparing for winter.

We also have several chipmunks (at least three) who are preparing for winter. One has not tail, one has half a tail (it's clear its been bitten off) and the third has a full tail. There maybe others with full tails.

http://img262.imageshack.us/img262/4111/chipmunk1lm3.jpg
http://img262.imageshack.us/img262/540/chipmunk2zm5.jpg

This is the one without a tail. Each has learned to run up the pole into the cages holding the seeds and suet cakes. The cages keep out the larger squirrels, but admit birds . . . and chipmunks.

They are a delight to watch, and now Misty, our female cat who is an excellent mouse catcher, has discovered the chipmunks.

The dog has picked up their scents, so when the dog goes out she races to particuarly spots to look for chipmunks, and she has cornered them. She has also killed a few in the past, so we are now careful to check the yard before we let her out. We give any chipmunk time to get out of range.

 

[turbo]

Chipmunks are fun, and the females can be easily trained - the males seem to be a bit tougher because they don't need to hoard as much food for the winter - the females will have little ones to feed and once they learn to trust you, they will come to you for food. We had a female living in the rock wall at a previous residence. I would get home from work, load up my shirt pocket with sunflower seeds and go out the front door and whistle. She'd come at me on a dead run, climb up the front of me and dive head-first into my pocket. It only took an hour or two a day for a week to get her that comfortable.

 

[Astronuc]

Chipmunks are fun, and the females can be easily trained - the males seem to be a bit tougher because they don't need to hoard as much food for the winter - the females will have little ones to feed and once they learn to trust you, they will come to you for food. We had a female living in the rock wall at a previous residence. I would get home from work, load up my shirt pocket with sunflower seeds and go out the front door and whistle. She'd come at me on a dead run, climb up the front of me and dive head-first into my pocket. It only took an hour or two a day for a week to get her that comfortable.

Very cool!

I think our neighborhood chipmunks live in the wooded areas, and perhaps they use a few holes in our yard. I notice them in the upper part of the back yard, when they are coming from or entering the forest on the hill behind our property. One or two may be living in our front yard, and we may have a mole or two, or did. We have little holes around the yard.

Our chipmunks just take off running when the back door opens - experience with the dog, I presume. We probably have a combination of male and female. I haven't made any effort to try to attract one, although last weekend, the dog had cornered one between the garage and tool closet. I got some seeds and laid them out, but the chipmunk kept avoiding me, so I left the creature alone with the seeds. It's just a great joy to watch them. We also delight in the numbers and varieties of birds.

 

[Astronuc]

Another very cool thing -

http://www.fryarstopiaries.com/subtemp.asp?cat=1&id=7

 

[Astronuc]

Well it's mid winter, so I doubt people are doing much in the way of gardening outdoors - except if one lives in So Cal.

Anyway an piece of botanical trivia -

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070215/ap_on_sc/ancient_peppers;_ylt=AuqIyZG7aR.TDGpd9XPkUTnMWM0F

WASHINGTON - Who says food fads can't last? Thousands of years before the advent of Tex-Mex, ancient Americans were spicing up stew with red hot chili peppers. New fossil evidence shows prehistoric people from southern Peru up to the Bahamas were cultivating varieties of chilies millennia before Columbus' arrival brought the spice to world cuisine.

The earliest traces so far are from southwestern Ecuador, where families fired up meals with homegrown peppers about 6,100 years ago.

The discovery, reported Friday in the journal Science, suggests early New World agriculture was more sophisticated than once thought.

"Some people who have described ancient food ways as being simple will probably have to rethink their ideas because of this work," said lead researcher Linda Perry of the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History.

"It tells us a lot about what was going on around the prehistoric hearth," adds co-author Deborah Pearsall, an anthropology professor at the University of Missouri-Columbia, who found evidence of chili-laced stew in pots in an ancient Ecuadorean village.

Archaeologists trace food origins not just from curiosity about the ancients' everyday lives. How a crop spreads sheds light on prehistoric travel and trade. In the Middle East, figs were domesticated 11,400 years ago. Wheat wasn't far behind. In the New World, corn was being cultivated around 9,000 years ago.

. . . .

Now the hunt is on for the first site of homegrown chilies. It can't be Ecuador, too far from where wild chilies flourish in Bolivia and Brazil.

"Whether this is migration of people or early trade is one of the fascinating questions," said Pearsall, . . . .

 

[turbo]

I saw that, too. I always pay attention when peppers are involved. My wife and I are always returning to the subject of gardening - just planning. So far, we have decided on no zucchini this year, doubling up on the carrots, and increasing the number of jalapeños, so we can make more poppers. More buttercup squash is in the plans, and no peas - they take too much room, involve too much work for the meager yield. We still have lots of jars of habanero left, so the jury is still out on whether we need to get another bunch of those in the ground.

 

[Astronuc]

Well, it's almost gardening season again.

Here's an idea for those growing lettuce, which prefers a cooler environment.

http://www.gardeners.com/on/demandware.store/Sites-Gardeners-Site/default/Link-Product?SC=KNA7011A&sku=36-558

I've been thinking about something like this for squash and tomatoes, as well as cucumbers.

 

[Pythagorean]

me and my girlfriend want to start a garden outside our apartment complex (sure the landlord would be cool with it) but we're close to busy roads. Especially if I'm planning on eating the produce from the garden, what kind of cheap material can I use for makeshift walls? I was thinking visqueen, but I'm not sure if it blocks out certain required spectrums for plants or not.

 

[turbo]

Well, it's almost gardening season again.

Here's an idea for those growing lettuce, which prefers a cooler environment.

http://www.gardeners.com/on/demandware.store/Sites-Gardeners-Site/default/Link-Product?SC=KNA7011A&sku=36-558

I've been thinking about something like this for squash and tomatoes, as well as cucumbers.

I've been considering something similar for the squash and cucumbers. Other plants that might like it cool are Swiss chard and spinach. I love fresh spinach in salads, but it generally bolts by mid-summer and it's hard to get a late crop that grows well and tastes as good as the early one.

 

[Astronuc]

Happy Spring!

The crocuses just broke the surface yesterday.

http://img251.imageshack.us/img251/9365/crocuses1005678em0.jpg


The tulips are not far behind.

 

[turbo]

Damn! We are many weeks behind you, and I am hoping that the current rains will bring a reduction in the snow-pack without triggering floods and ice-dams. We should have a drier day tomorrow, and if these short wet/dry cycles continue, we may escape flooding in the river valleys and still manage to recharge our groundwater. I have a drilled well in a deep aquifer and a dug well (for irrigating the garden, washing cars, etc) and I would like for both of the to be usable. Last summer, a prolonged dry spell would cause the dug well to be depleted with only about 45-60 min of watering through one rotary sprinkler in the garden. I've got a small but deep pond in the back yard as a back-up, but using that would add another level of complexity in a drought summer, plus require me to stress the critters living there.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

I managed to sneak in a spray day today [hurray!]. Here in Oregon, in the early spring, it is a constant game of cat and mouse to catch a day dry enough and warm enough to spray for weeds - actually, to control the boundaries of the property, the driveway, fence lines, etc. If you don't get things in time, the grass is literally four feet tall before you know it - two hundred dollars for Crossbow and Roundup if done early, and double that if I get to things too late. Unfortunately, it still takes about three hits over the growing season to keep everything in check.

This year I finally broke down and bought a four gallon backpack sprayer. Wow, what a pleasure that is compared to lugging around a three gallon spray bottle. It only took about three hours to apply twelve [correction: sixteen] gallons of mix. That is a record!

 

[turbo]

Sorry for my lack of enthusiasm, but is there no other way to control weeds? I'm lucky to have neighbors on every side of me that won't use herbicides, but then again, we all have to drink the water from our wells, and we have vegetable gardens.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

Unfortunately, there is no other option. In fact, it's only barely possible to control the property with herbacides.

This year is particularly bad because last year we reclaimed about a bit of land above the house. It is always difficult to get new areas under control.

 

[Astronuc]

The garlic is coming back!

I found small shoots of rhubarb - I was a little worried it didn't do well this winter.

The blueberries and raspberries are budding, and I seen some green in the strawberry patch.

 

[Evo]

I have wild onions everywhere, they're kind of like scallions, but with a very garlicky odor.

I'm glad that I have resisted the urge to plant, we're supposed to have weather in the 20's for several nights this week. We've had an unusually cold, wet spring.

My pear tree hardly put out any blooms this year and I don't know how the freezing temperatures will affect the peaches, the tree is in bloom.

 

[Math Is Hard]

Happy Spring!

The crocuses just broke the surface yesterday.

http://img251.imageshack.us/img251/9365/crocuses1005678em0.jpg


The tulips are not far behind.

beautiful picture, Astronuc!

 

[Astronuc]

I'm glad that I have resisted the urge to plant, we're supposed to have weather in the 20's for several nights this week. We've had an unusually cold, wet spring.

My pear tree hardly put out any blooms this year and I don't know how the freezing temperatures will affect the peaches, the tree is in bloom.

I think the blooms will be lost and maybe no fruit this year. About 2 or 3 years ago, we had prematurely warm weather in February and March. Then a hard freeze set in while the furit and nut trees had budded and bloomed. We lost 50-80% of the fruit and nut crop for that year.

I am hoping no more freezes, but we can have cold weather and snow as late as mid-May.

beautiful picture, Astronuc!

Thanks. We now have many more in bloom, and the tulips are about to bloom in the next day or two.

 

[turbo]

Darn! I'm jealous. The only thing that is blooming here is mud, and only in the spots that are not completely covered with snow, and they are small isolated patches of muck. It was sunny this morning and going out on the back deck was a treat. Every morning, flocks of goldfinches sing like crazy, and since we feed them, the higher-ranking males are jockeying to keep this territory for themselves. This morning, however, they were joined by white-throated sparrows whose long sweet whistled notes made a nice counterpoint to the energetic "tweety-tweet" goldfinch songs.

 

[brewnog]

I planted a herb garden today. The previous owner of my house had some big old chimney pots which she left here. I weeded out most of the vegetation (except for some nice orange tulips which are now in bloom) and have planted oregano, basil, mint, white and common rosemary, fennel, french parsley, some chillis and some corriander.

My garden is currently all patio (with some very small beds), I'm determined to have it such that all vegetation is edible! A couple of apple trees are on their way, the herb garden will be transferred from the chimney pots to the beds when the plants have established, and I'm thinking about some raspberry canes and some garlic.

 

[turbo]

That sounds great! My wife and I can't wait to get out there and plant. The herb garden that I made for her last year along the south foundation is one of the areas that is clear of snow, and though the threat of frost persists here through all of May, that is one area that we can expect to have above-average soil temperatures early, so we can get a good start on scallions, fennel, basil, dill, etc.

 

[hypatia]

Looks like most of my herbs didnt winter over well. I was hopeing the creeping thyme would, because it got so big last year. I'll give it a few more weeks to get green, befor I tear it out. The few new cedars, did really well over winter, and look better then they did going into winter.
Daffodills are budded, and early tulips are about 5 inches up! I'll be heading up north{summer house/ cottage}by the end of April, to see what the winter damage is like up there. I've been told, lots of branchs and trees down, from the ice storms.
Haven't planned anything to plant yet, tho Barley will be at the top of the list. We made some great Amber ale, from last years crop. I was thinking of some old varities of veggies this year. I'm sure its too late to start from seed, hopeing to find a greenhouse with them.

 

[Astronuc]

Every morning, flocks of goldfinches sing like crazy, and since we feed them, the higher-ranking males are jockeying to keep this territory for themselves. This morning, however, they were joined by white-throated sparrows whose long sweet whistled notes made a nice counterpoint to the energetic "tweety-tweet" goldfinch songs.

Yep - we have goldfinches coming in. The males are getting their gold plumage. I saw an orange or light brown finch with a light breast, but I didn't get a good look before it flew away.

I saw a couple of nuthatches today, and there are loads of chickadees and titmice. We've had downy and hairy woodpeckers with us all winter long, and recently we spotted a red-bellied woodpecker and two flickers on the same tree.

There was a mess of feathers near the top garden, where I grow rhubarb. I'm guessing a hawk or falcon took down a dove. We have at least two resident hawks in the neighborhood. I hear them periodically.

 

[larkspur]

Best Freeze Protection?

We are headed for a few nights of below freezing. My peach tree already has fruit and my early blueberries are blooming. For the blueberries, which would provide the best protection, a plastic garbage can or a sheet?

 

[Astronuc]

We are headed for a few nights of below freezing. My peach tree already has fruit and my early blueberries are blooming. For the blueberries, which would provide the best protection, a plastic garbage can or a sheet?

Probably both a clear plastic sheet to trap sun by day and garbage can.

If you really get serious, cover bushes with plastic and place 100W light bulb under the plastic to keep the air warm. I used to put a light bulb in the engine compartment of my car when the overnight temperatures were -20°F (-29°C). It worked.

We had a few snow flurries today.

 

[larkspur]

Thanks. I doubt I'll do the light bulb but plastic sheeting is doable

 

[Evo]

We're having temperatures down to 19F this week. I have an acre of land and too much to protect. This is going to be sad.

 

[turbo]

Here is what my back deck looked like at 8:30 yesterday morning. Later in the day, the snow slid off the metal roof leaving a long pile of heavy compressed wet snow about 4' deep. Because of this one storm, this is now the 9th snowiest April on record, and we have most all the month left to go.http://img235.imageshack.us/img235/6462/deck650iy4.jpg

 

[Evo]

YIKES!

Did you lose power? I read that over 180,000 people lost power in that storm.

 

[turbo]

For some reason, we did NOT lose power this time, except for brief glitches when there were ground faults that did not exceed three failures (that would trip the safeties and require an inspection and a manual reset by a lineman). There are still lots of people without power up here and the power company expects the outages to continue through tonight and into tomorrow at the earliest in some areas. That snow was very heavy and wet, and I am quite a lame puppy today. Oh, well. Hopefully our next storm will be a little lighter. We are supposed to get sporadic snow showers through most of next week, then rain late in the week, so I'm going to have to break out the shovel and move some of that mountain of snow in front of the house, so there won't be saturated show piled up against the walls. We've never experienced any seepage, but I don't want to tempt fate. Break out the Doan's back pills!

 

[larkspur]

Here is what my back deck looked like at 8:30 yesterday morning. Later in the day, the snow slid off the metal roof leaving a long pile of heavy compressed wet snow about 4' deep. Because of this one storm, this is now the 9th snowiest April on record, and we have most all the month left to go.


http://img235.imageshack.us/img235/6462/deck650iy4.jpg

Wow! Four feet of snow! That is more than we'll get in a century! The heavy wet snow is so beautiful even if it is a pain in the back to clear.

 

[turbo]

Well, the four feet is what the pile was (very heavy, compacted, and wet) when the roof shed its load onto the deck. I estimate that we got between 20-22" of wet heavy stuff on horizontal surfaces. There is a good solid 18" on horizontal surfaces in this image and the snow continued (heavy at times) for another 3-3.5 hours. If you look at the the log wall by the grill and even the edge of the railing bench, you'll see big fat wet flakes were still coming steadily.

On a personal note: I just got a new camera today to replace my crappy little point-and-shoot (that I used to take this picture yesterday). I hope to start giving you a run for your money in the photo contest threads!

 

[larkspur]

On a personal note: I just got a new camera today to replace my crappy little point-and-shoot (that I used to take this picture yesterday). I hope to start giving you a run for your money in the photo contest threads!

Bring it on!
A great book to read is Understanding Exposure by Bryan Peterson. I have learned so much from it. A tripod is an absolute must have and use it often for tack sharp images.

 

[turbo]

Bring it on!
A great book to read is Understanding Exposure by Bryan Peterson. I have learned so much from it. A tripod is an absolute must have and use it often for tack sharp images.

Here is the very first image that I captured with my new Canon 30D through a 100-400mm L IS USM at full zoom. The junco was all fluffed up and comfortable in one of my apple trees, so I didn't approach him, but shot him at full zoom from quite a distance. This crop contains less than 20% of the full frame. I hope to learn to do better.

http://img232.imageshack.us/img232/1654/junco001lo1.jpg

 

[larkspur]

Here is the very first image that I captured with my new Canon 30D through a 100-400mm L IS USM at full zoom. The junco was all fluffed up and comfortable in one of my apple trees, so I didn't approach him, but shot him at full zoom from quite a distance. This crop contains less than 20% of the full frame. I hope to learn to do better.

http://img232.imageshack.us/img232/1654/junco001lo1.jpg

[/URL]

Great Shot!

 

[larkspur]

Here is[edit]my[/edit] best bird photo:
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/181/447747973_afb40679fd.jpg

 

[turbo]

Thanks, larkspur. As you can see from the little blurry/washed out spots, there were foreground branches, but I was able to get rid of them by exploiting the depth of field.

OK, now for the truth: I hoped that the DOF would allow me to show the bird well, but this was my very first image with the camera, and I didn't have a clue if that would happen or not. I got lucky! I need to learn how to use this camera, and it's as complicated as a 747. I am an old dedicated manual-camera guy who used to carry a stable of OM-1's loaded with a variety of prime lenses. The learning curve is going to be steep.

 

[turbo]

Here is best bird photo:
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/181/447747973_afb40679fd.jpg

EEEK! Green peeps? I hated the originals! Do these taste like Mexican mixed drinks?

 

[larkspur]

EEEK! Green peeps? I hated the originals! Do these taste like Mexican mixed drinks?

Ha! I don't eat those things. But they are fun to photograph!

 

[Astronuc]

Here is the very first image that I captured with my new Canon 30D through a 100-400mm L IS USM at full zoom. The junco was all fluffed up and comfortable in one of my apple trees, so I didn't approach him, but shot him at full zoom from quite a distance. This crop contains less than 20% of the full frame. I hope to learn to do better.

That is a great shot Turbo!

I agree with you on the digital cameras. I miss my old F-1 (from 1973) with it's various lenses. My favorite was a 35-230 (IIRC, it's been so long) Zoom.

I use a Kodak DX6490, but I want to get a digital SLR with interchangable lenses. I much prefer manual control on shutter speed and aperture (f/stop). And I absolutely detest Auto-focus

 

[turbo]

That is a great shot Turbo!

I agree with you on the digital cameras. I miss my old F-1 (from 1973) with it's various lenses. My favorite was a 35-230 (IIRC, it's been so long) Zoom.

I use a Kodak DX6490, but I want to get a digital SLR with interchangable lenses. I much prefer manual control on shutter speed and aperture (f/stop). And I absolutely detest Auto-focus

Thanks. The junco's beak is just a little blurred (they are twitchy little guys!) but otherwise the shot turned out OK.

This camera allows you to set everything manually, if you want. I'll have to learn to trust or distrust the automatic stuff based on the outcomes of the shots. This is all new ground for me. I have a digital point-and-shoot Olympus C-3040 that does OK with the AF but you have to watch the exposure control and adjust accordingly. The auto-focus on this camera is OK, because it allows you to manually override the AF just by manually twisting the focus ring on the lens. The AF can get you close to good focus very quickly, so that may be something I'll rely on once I get used to used to it.

 

[Astronuc]

Thanks. The junco's beak is just a little blurred (they are twitchy little guys!) but otherwise the shot turned out OK.

This camera allows you to set everything manually, if you want. I'll have to learn to trust or distrust the automatic stuff based on the outcomes of the shots. This is all new ground for me. I have a digital point-and-shoot Olympus C-3040 that does OK with the AF but you have to watch the exposure control and adjust accordingly. The auto-focus on this camera is OK, because it allows you to manually override the AF just by manually twisting the focus ring on the lens. The AF can get you close to good focus very quickly, so that may be something I'll rely on once I get used to used to it.

I have too many instances of the AF focusing on a feature near the object of which I'm photographing and the object is then blurred or slightly out of focus. This is especially the case when I am trying to do closeups.

I also find high mag nearly useless, depending on the quality of light. Low light makes AF and high mag difficult. Perhaps I need to use a tripod, which can be rather limiting when one wants to take a picture of bird or insect which is usually intermittently moving.

 

[turbo]

I have too many instances of the AF focusing on a feature near the object of which I'm photographing and the object is then blurred or slightly out of focus. This is especially the case when I am trying to do closeups.

That situation is very common if you are shooting wide-open to isolate the subject by minimizing the depth of field.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

Back to poisoning the environment and water supply: I still had some ground to cover and yesterday was perfect - well over 70 degrees, no rain, a little wind in the late afternoon that died down in the early evening - so I grabbed my gear and went for it. There was a 30% chance of light showers early this morning, but with sticker added to the mix, that should be fine; it can take some rain and still be effective. And I was so happy to actually get this all done on time this year. It really sets the tone for the entire summer. But this morning I awoke at 5AM to the sound of pouring rain! I have no idea if it will hold now. I did go heavy on the sticker so I can only wait and see.