Growing berries, vegetables and herbs organically at home

[turbo]

That's a good guess. Aaargh, where did I put my Birds of Kansas Book?

You moved, and it is now hopelessly lost until you pass from this mortal coil, and your daughters have to clean out your apartment.

 

[Evo]

You moved, and it is now hopelessly lost until you pass from this mortal coil, and your daughters have to clean out your apartment.

 

[turbo]

And they'll throw the book out because neither of them cares about identifying the Birds of Kansas. Sorry, some things skip a generation.

 

[Upisoft]

This Indian Summer we're having here is producing a bumper crop of peppers. This would have been a great year for cubanelles and poblanos. Last year they set tons of fruit right before the first freeze.

What does "Indian Summer" mean? Google translate gives me something that literally translated back means "second youth".

 

[turbo]

What does "Indian Summer" mean? Google translate gives me something that literally translated back means "second youth".

Indian Summer is a gardener's delight. It is a spell of unseasonably warm weather in the fall of the year that can get you more ripe tomatoes, chilies, and other food.

 

[drizzle]

I'd appreciate it if anyone can help me with this, are those pomegranate leaves?

[PLAIN]http://img828.imageshack.us/img828/4425/img0081qc.jpg

I've googled pomegranate leaves and the below appeared [resized the first], the first are thiner, but they do look the same, don't they?

[PLAIN]http://img821.imageshack.us/img821/5755/pomegranateflowers.jpg

[URL]http://www.irandriedfruit.com/images/fruit/pomegranate-leaves.jpg[/URL]

 

[turbo]

The last image reminds me of the smooth leaves on peach trees. I have never seen pomegranate leaves, but the leaves in your top pic seem to have smaller leaflets at the base. That is the kind of morphological clue that might help you identify the plant.

If you need help with spruces, firs, pines, and boreal hardwoods, I'd be more help.

 

[Evo]

I'd appreciate it if anyone can help me with this, are those pomegranate leaves?

[PLAIN]http://img828.imageshack.us/img828/4425/img0081qc.jpg

I've googled pomegranate leaves and the below appeared [resized the first], the first are thiner, but they do look the same, don't they?

[PLAIN]http://img821.imageshack.us/img821/5755/pomegranateflowers.jpg

[PLAIN]http://www.irandriedfruit.com/images/fruit/pomegranate-leaves.jpg[/QUOTE]
The first picture is definitely not pomegranate. The pomegranate is a woody shrub. are those flowers in the lower left hand corner part of the plant? It looks like some type of herb.

 

[drizzle]

The first picture is definitely not pomegranate. The pomegranate is a woody shrub.

But you can't tell yet, the plant in the first pic is onlt 7 months old.

 

[Evo]

But you can't tell yet, the plant in the first pic is onlt 7 months old.

Could be then, here is a link to a young plant. http://toptropicals.com/pics/toptropicals/plant_wk/pomPICT1737.jpg

and a young dwarf http://toptropicals.com/pics/garden/07/25/P3172990.jpg

They do look similar.

 

[turbo]

OK, I Googled "pomegranate leaves" and got WAY more hits that looked like waxy, leathery, smooth leaves in image #3 than either of the one or two images. Kind of makes sense, because fruiting shrubs in arid climates should be optimized to reduce moisture losses due to heat and solar radiation.

 

[Ouabache]

I am going to plant garlic in the vegetable garden very soon.
Are some varieties better than others?
Do you know of some good ones to try?
(we are in US planting zone 6)

 

[turbo]

I am going to plant garlic in the vegetable garden very soon.
Are some varieties better than others? Do you have some recommendations?
(we are in US planting zone 6)

I am partial to Russian Red and German White hard-neck garlics. They are very tough and they yield well. I'm in zone 4, so the garlic needs to be cold-hardy.

 

[Ouabache]

I am partial to Russian Red and German White hard-neck garlics..

That's great I will see if we can get some of those.

I'd also like to plant some cold tolerant raspberries. We only get 1 good season out of 5 due to poor cold tolerance. I've heard of the Boyne variety, but don't know anyone who has tried it.

 

[Astronuc]

The hawks have been terrible the last month. This was one of two hawks attacking the birds and squirrels out back. These are small hawks, they are not the NotAGoshawk.

Beautiful bird.

 

[NeoDevin]

I'd also like to plant some cold tolerant raspberries. We only get 1 good season out of 5 due to poor cold tolerance. I've heard of the Boyne variety, but don't know anyone who has tried it.

Are you kidding me? I'm in zone 3, and they grow wild here. I had very few bad years when I had a raspberry patch.

 

[Astronuc]

Are you kidding me? I'm in zone 3, and they grow wild here. I had very few bad years when I had a raspberry patch.

Our raspberries are growing wild more or less. I started with 2 or 3 plants, and now I have a patch, and they keep trying to spread across the yard. My blackberries are also propagating.

We are zone 5 and get some pretty hard freezes. We can get Zone 4 weather about once per decade.

 

[Evo]

Beautiful bird.

Yes, but he's eating all of the birds and squirrels.

 

[Ouabache]

Are you kidding me? I'm in zone 3, and they grow wild here. I had very few bad years when I had a raspberry patch.

Our patch was at low elevation below several hills and in an open field. So not only did we get the cold air settling in the valley but also the desiccating winds across the field. In the last 5 years very few canes survive through to spring. The roots are fine, they grow new canes through the warm months, but we lose the early season harvest.

I have not tried Boyne yet, but read that it grows in colder zones than 5. So besides the native Rubus occidentalis, do we know of some other tried an tested cold tolerant varieties?

Our raspberries are growing wild more or less. I started with 2 or 3 plants, and now I have a patch, and they keep trying to spread across the yard. My blackberries are also propagating.

We are zone 5 and get some pretty hard freezes. We can get Zone 4 weather about once per decade.

What variety are you growing?
Are they in an open field? do they have a wind break?

 

[Astronuc]

What variety are you growing?
Are they in an open field? do they have a wind break?

I'm not sure of the variety. It's been a while, and I started with 2 plants, then added one more of a different variety.

They are growing in the middle of my back yard, where they are more or less protected from the wind, although in winder when there are not leaves on the trees, it gets windy there. The back yard is also at the base of a hill of about 30 feet in height, and which is covered in trees and shrubs, and they are partly protected by the house.

 

[NeoDevin]

do we know of some other tried an tested cold tolerant varieties?

Unfortunately, I don't know the varieties. They were growing there when we moved to the house, and are probably still there today.

I just planted a raspberry patch at my house this year, but it consists of plants taken from friend's and family's yards, so I don't know the varieties of those either. I got some from my sister's house, which were there when she moved in, some from my in laws, which grew into their yard from their neighbor's yard, and some from a friend who planted hers so long ago that she doesn't have a clue on the variety.

My best suggestion would be to do that: find someone (or a few someones) in your area with a successful patch in similar growing conditions, and ask if you could dig up a few canes to plant in your yard. Raspberries spread like crazy, so there should be no shortage of extra canes if someone already has a patch.

 

[turbo]

You've had about the same experience that I did, Neo. A woman that my wife works with wanted to cut a path though her patch, and she brought in a 5-gallon bucket of canes. My wife called me, and I drove down to get them and put them in the ground right away. Many of the canes were very woody and brown, and were not viable or productive, but there were enough smaller green canes and rhizomes to start a good patch. Here's a picture. I planted that bucket of canes and roots 4 years ago. Next spring, I'm going to dig up a bunch of canes and give them to a neighbor who wants to start a berry-patch for his grand-daughters to tend and harvest. Every time I mow the lawn, I mow down dozens of small canes several feet from the main patch. Raspberries are aggressive. Almost as aggressive as bee-balm and mint. Again, I have no idea what variety these plants are - only that they cam from an old and very productive patch on a local property.

 

[turbo]

Yes, but he's eating all of the birds and squirrels.

Look on the bright side. He is also eating mice, voles, and rats so you don't have to deal with them.

When I rented a house overlooking the Penobscot river (in college) there was a Merlin nesting in the eaves of the porch. She was smaller than your red-tail variant, but she brought back mice and other small rodents, snakes and frogs all day long to feed the little ones. It's part of nature. Sometimes man upsets nature to the detriment of some species and to the advantage of others. I'm sure that the red-tails love plains farm country. Grains mean large populations of mice, rats, and other rodents, and that means plenty of food for the red-tails.

 

[Astronuc]

I picked some end of the season peppers - habaneros and jalapeños.

And a friend of my wife sent some hot peppers - like a hot Caribbean or similar.

 

[dlgoff]

When I was tilling my garden for next year, I noticed this volunteer tomato plant growing in my mulch pile. It actually looked better than the plants I planted this spring that didn't do to well.

We had one little frost and it survived, so I dug it up, potted it, brought in inside and put it in my bedroom that has lots of southern windows.

It's doing so good that I had to cage it. It blooming too.

Yea. Tomatoes this winter I hope.

This plant is really healthy and has grown very large with lots of blooms. I've pollinated them (with a brush as turbo suggest) but I'm afraid they need to be cross-pollinated from another type.

No tomatoes for Don.

Now what am I going to do with the plant? I feel like it's a pet now but I can't take it to a shelter.

 

[Evo]

This plant is really healthy and has grown very large with lots of blooms. I've pollinated them (with a brush as turbo suggest) but I'm afraid they need to be cross-pollinated from another type.

No tomatoes for Don.

Now what am I going to do with the plant? I feel like it's a pet now but I can't take it to a shelter.

Did you leave some blooms alone and shake the plant? I tried the brush on some tomatoes, and the blooms fell off, the ones I left alone pollinated. Using a fan to mimick air movement works also.

I've been growing tomatoes for over 45 years, some of my relatives own farms, but don't listen to me. I used to be called "the plant lady" People said that I didn't just have green thumbs, I had green arms. I won competitions. But, that's ok, ignore my advice.

That tomatoes pollinate themselves poorly without outside aid is clearly shown in greenhouse situations where pollination must be aided by artificial wind, vibration of the plants (one brand of vibrator is a wand called an "electric bee" that is used manually), or more often today, by cultured bumblebees[citation needed]. The anther of a tomato flower is shaped like a hollow tube, with the pollen produced within the structure, rather than on the surface as in most species. The pollen moves through pores in the anther, but very little pollen is shed without some kind of outside motion. The best source of outside motion is a sonicating bee such as a bumblebee or the original wild halictid pollinator. In an outside setting, wind or animals provide sufficient motion to produce commercially viable crops.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tomato#Pollination

I had posted how to make a tomato vibrator last time. Here's an even easier method with an electric toothbrush. http://www.gardenguides.com/85268-pollinate-tomatoes-electric-toothbrush.html

 

[dlgoff]

Did you leave some blooms alone and shake the plant? I tried the brush on some tomatoes, and the blooms fell off, the ones I left alone pollinated. Using a fan to mimick air movement works also.

I've been growing tomatoes for over 45 years, some of my relatives own farms, but don't listen to me. I used to be called "the plant lady" People said that I didn't just have green thumbs, I had green arms. I won competitions. But, that's ok, ignore my advice.



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tomato#Pollination

I had posted how to make a tomato vibrator last time. Here's an even easier method with an electric toothbrush. http://www.gardenguides.com/85268-pollinate-tomatoes-electric-toothbrush.html

There are many blooms left so I'll give it some more time and just shake like you suggest. But I don't think it's going to work since the first blooms the plant had are still there. The peddles have been dried for a couple of weeks now and the green part of the bloom (where the tomato fruit should start) has grown like they're full grown tomatoes. Normally when a bloom doesn't take it drops off like you say, but not these. As a mater of fact, no blooms have dropped off. I've never seen a full grown tomato top without a fruit. That's why I think it needs pollen from another variety.

 

[dlgoff]

But, that's ok, ignore my advice.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tomato#Pollination

Well they do say:

In the wild, original state, tomatoes required cross-pollination;...

And I think this is what happen...The seed grew a wild/regressed plant.

But I did buy a plant light as you suggested. I've used it on those cloudy days.

 

[turbo]

And I think this is what happen...The seed grew a wild/regressed plant.

A seed that won't breed true from a hybrid (not uncommon) may well require cross-species pollination, not just plant-to-plant pollination. If you can keep the plant thriving through the winter, it will be a great addition to next year's garden. If you can keep it producing, it will be a great asset all winter.

Edit: My wife and I have grown organic versions of hybrids for a while. This year, we decided to plant half Moskviches (old indeterimate variety) and half Marianas (cold-tolerant sauce tomatoes). We'll do the same next year! We have gallons and gallons of herb-rich mariana sauces in the freezer.

 

[dlgoff]

If you can keep the plant thriving through the winter, it will be a great addition to next year's garden. If you can keep it producing, it will be a great asset all winter.

This thing is going to reach the ceiling with in a month. And it drinks a quart or more of water a day now.