What Are Some Tips for Successful Gardening?

[Ivan Seeking]

It's a baby Triffid!

 

[Borek]

It may also mean snails in your garden are artistically inclined.

 

[lisab]

No one is going to believe me. I wouldn't believe me. But I swear to God that I did not touch this thing!

When I went outside this morning, I noticed some mushrooms in the grass. Then I noticed something VERY ODD about one that was standing off to the side and staring directly into my back door.

I got closer and AAARRRGGGHH!

This is it, unretouched, I only folded a blade of grass down so you could see it clearly.

WHAT DOES IT MEAN?

Too funny!

 

[Ms Music]

Another view.

Hee hee... I want one!

It looks like it witnessed something disturbing and disgusting... Since Borek mentioned snails, made me think of a picture I took of slugs doing the nasty...

 

[lisab]

In the home stretch with this project.

Topped off the raised beds with some good soil, and I got some starts in this weekend (cucumbers, zucchini, pumpkin, tomato, several types of lettuce). And I planted some flower seeds (sunflower, poppy, lupine).

Had to put up a temporary fence to keep the dog out ...sort of messes up the aesthetics. Oh well.

Here's a friendly garden corvid (I'm an admirer of corvids...a passion I share with MiH)!

 

[Moonbear]

That looks great, lisa!

What would grow well in VERY wet soil? Since we had soaking rain this week, I got to find where the water runs through my property, and there's one low spot that gets almost marshy, so I was thinking it's a good spot to landscape with something that likes to be wet (that's my real approach to landscaping...as I find places I don't like mowing, I landscape it with something that doesn't need mowing). That, or it'll be a spot to put in raised beds. My other option is to put in a gravel path and use the gravel as a drain. I just know I don't want to mow grass over a swamp!

 

[Proton Soup]

if it's really marshy, cattails http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Typha

 

[turbo]

What would grow well in VERY wet soil? Since we had soaking rain this week, I got to find where the water runs through my property, and there's one low spot that gets almost marshy, so I was thinking it's a good spot to landscape with something that likes to be wet (that's my real approach to landscaping...as I find places I don't like mowing, I landscape it with something that doesn't need mowing). That, or it'll be a spot to put in raised beds. My other option is to put in a gravel path and use the gravel as a drain. I just know I don't want to mow grass over a swamp!

Blue-flag iris love water. You may be able to get day-lilies to grow there, too. They're pretty darned tough, and they can spread.

 

[Borek]

We have almost lost a lot of plants this winter. It seems now that only rosmarinus died completely, everything else started to grow eventually, but my buddleja that was about 7" high is now reduced to millimeter shoots And while it is nothing unusual for buddleja to freeze in a winter, new shoots were usually thick like a finger.

 

[turbo]

My gardening neighbor just stopped in with his grand-daughter in tow. He wanted to let me know that the leeks he started for us are ready to transplant. He also has several varieties of cabbage (including regular, red, and savoyed) broccoli and cauliflower that he started for us - surprise! Those are all cold-hardy plants so they can go in the ground anytime that my garden's soil is dry enough to till.

That was a good visit - surprise vegetables and a pleasant break from the black-flies and splitting and stacking firewood.

 

[Moonbear]

if it's really marshy, cattails http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Typha

It won't remain marshy...just currently is due to the heavy rains we've been getting. But, I think it will always be moist there...anything that needs well-drained soil would have drowned already.

Blue-flag iris love water. You may be able to get day-lilies to grow there, too. They're pretty darned tough, and they can spread.

Thanks. Iris and lilies sound great for a garden, and there's room there for them to spread too, so that would be a good option. I was already thinking of putting in some sort of creeping groundcover in the area. Since there is a lot of drainage through that part of the yard, unless I wanted to keep replenishing stones every few years, I figured I'd want something planted there to help retain soil from eroding.

Of course, I suppose I could also add a water feature along that path. I'm thinking about terracing the yard above it and closer to the house, so building a water feature as a sort of waterfall over the terracing and into the naturally wet area would allow the drainage to continue through that area and make the water seem more intentional. But, I'd still want plants along it in some form or another.

I was going to jump into doing some landscaping right away, but the more I stare at the yard right now, other than a few flower beds right close to the house, I think I'm going to just watch the yard this year and see where the water is, where the sun is, where I hate mowing the lawn the most, etc., and then plan out landscaping when I know more about the terrain.

 

[turbo]

I have a scorched-Earth philosophy about weeds - literally. I will till my vegetable garden this week in preparation for planting next weekend. Today, I used my 500,000 BTU propane torch to burn all the weeds. There is no point in running a rototiller over spring weeds only to have them pop right back up in a week or two, so burning the tops is a better option. Burning does not kill the roots of the weeds, but it robs the roots of energy from the foliage and should reduce the need for weeding later in the season.

 

[Moonbear]

As I mowed the lawn today, I spotted a few ferns trying to grow. I spared them with the lawnmower, and am now thinking that I should look for some of the varieties that like wet soil (some don't) and plant those in the yard. I either need to plant something tolerant of wet soil or I need to put in French drains or something like that. The low lying areas of the yard are definitely staying very wet. No wonder there are so many maple trees here...maples LOVE moist soil. There are some baby maples trying to grow, and I avoided mowing that part of the yard too...I'm going to give a few of the babies a chance. Since I have no intention to move again, it'll be nice to watch if a few of the baby trees survive and to see them grow.

 

[Astronuc]

I attended a sustainable vegetable gardening seminar this past Saturday. The instructor is one of the farm managers on a 10-acre plot sponsored by a local CSA. We covered a number of techniques including fertilizing (with minimal or no synthetics), weeding, pest control, and so one. I'll sift through my notes and post some tips later.

They use a 40-hp utility tractor and two lighter ~10-15 hp cultivating tractor, one of which is straight electric.

The cultivating tractors are used for weed control in addition to planting seed. When deweeding, the tractors turn the top 1-2 inches enough to upset the weeds. This is basically like manually hoeing. Flame deweeding is used with some plants like carrots when the vegetable sprouts have not broken the surface, but the weeds are already growing (like turbo mentioned). Basically, waits about 1-2 weeks after seeding, then check the end of the row to see where the sprouts are.

I also learned about green manures that add carbon and nitrogen to the soil - and the help control weeds!
Here's a useful reference - http://www1.agric.gov.ab.ca/$department/deptdocs.nsf/all/agdex8875

We've had unusually cool weather so far this spring, although we had one or two days of record warmth. The lettuce loves the cool weather, and the sugar peas are slowly growing.

I planted some kale seedlings a couple of weekends ago, and now they have just taken off. They have barely grown by last weekend, but during the week, they have grown from about three inches to more than 8''. I hope to add rainbow Swiss chard soon.

I'll be planting to habaneros, cayenne and pepperoncinis that I started from seed, as well as a few seedlings I purchased.

And the garlic is doing really well!

 

[turbo]

If you can keep them WELL away from your house and your septic system, etc, you might want to look into willows and cottonwoods. They drink prodigious amounts of water and they grow very quickly. Earlier this spring my neighbor gave me a small branch off his broad-leafed willow bush. They develop branches that are flattened, like reindeer horns and have very attractive pussywillows (which is why he gave me the branch). I put that in a vase in water as a surprise for my wife, and after a week or so, I got a surprise. The branch had not only sprouted some leaves, but had also developed some roots. I planted that branch in a very wet spot near a small pond next to the garden, and hope that it will grow.

 

[turbo]

And the garlic is doing really well!

Yay! Fresh home-grown garlic is like fresh home-grown tomatoes. There is no comparison to the stuff in the stores.

 

[Moonbear]

If you can keep them WELL away from your house and your septic system, etc, you might want to look into willows and cottonwoods. They drink prodigious amounts of water and they grow very quickly. Earlier this spring my neighbor gave me a small branch off his broad-leafed willow bush. They develop branches that are flattened, like reindeer horns and have very attractive pussywillows (which is why he gave me the branch). I put that in a vase in water as a surprise for my wife, and after a week or so, I got a surprise. The branch had not only sprouted some leaves, but had also developed some roots. I planted that branch in a very wet spot near a small pond next to the garden, and hope that it will grow.

I don't have septic, so that's not a problem, and the wet area is away from the house, so that's a good idea. I do enjoy pussywillows if they'll grow. I want to make that area usable for something other than mowing grass in mud but at the same time, need to make sure I don't interfere with drainage, since that area is clearly so wet because it's where the drainage runs through the property (as long as its far from the house, I can work with it).

As I'm keeping an eye on the moisture and drainage, I don't think I want to put a regular garden along that path; I think there would be too much erosion if I did. I think I need to put something there that retains roots year round, even if they are dormant, to prevent erosion. What I'm absolutely certain about is that I need something other than grass/lawn in that part of the yard...I think that's the problem is that someone tried to turn a maple grove into lawn, and it's just not working. I have mostly maples in the yard, and a couple of poplars.

 

[turbo]

Here's a bit of a plan, Moonie. If you can get some willows or cottonwoods started in the wettest spots, they will root very heavily. Early on, before the trees get very big and shady try to fill with some irises and day-lilies. Irises are quite shade-tolerant, and should do well as the trees grow, and if the lilies start to fade a bit when their sunlight is cut off, consider planting a bed of hosta around each tree. Those broad-leafed plants are very tough, perrennial (only buy or barter for them once), and tolerant of shade.

Our organic-gardening neighbor split hundreds of hostas this spring and he loaded the whole bucket of my tractor with plants, which my wife and I planted under our apple trees and in the relatively shady flower-bed on the north side of our house. If you looked up the retail value of our haul in hosta, it's well into the thousands of dollars. The paper mill has laid him off for the upcoming week, and I know that he wants to tear up the paving-stone walkways between his greenhouse and his house, so I'm going to head up there with my tractor to make moving and stockpiling the pavers a lot easier. He has access to a very large Ford tractor owned by another neighbor, but with those aggressive agricultural tires, it would tear up his property while my "little" 28 hp tractor with less-aggressive tread will be a lot less destructive and still get the work done.

 

[Moonbear]

Yes, I can get plenty of hostas. One of my friends had a ton of them they split often. At my last house, I had one bed of overgrown hostas in the front, and was able to split off enough of them to landscape two other flower beds. They seem willing to grow anywhere. Though, before I start planting trees there, the one thing I need to check is where the water lines run through the property and make sure I'm not going to be putting roots too close to water lines. I know where the underground electric and cable run in from the street side, because they had to pull up the cable line and replace it...the previous owners must have damaged it at some point after they installed a satellite dish. But the water meter is out in the back yard on the other side of the property, so I'm not sure where those lines run or how deep. But, that's easy enough to call and have that marked out for me.

 

[turbo]

I did the weed burn-off yesterday, and it looks like the rest of the week will be dry, so I tilled the garden this morning to break the muddy crust and aerate the soil so it will dry out for hoeing up beds and planting. It's still too muddy right now, but if the rain holds off, this weekend should be OK. I'm just in for a "hydration break" - it's 48-49 deg F with a light breeze, overcast (so no sun-burn) and no black flies. A perfect day to split firewood.

A lot of people jumped the gun and put their gardens in early, and unless they take some precautions, they're going to lose a lot of plants tonight. It's supposed to clear off before evening, and between the cold front and the radiational cooling, we may get down into the 20's. Brr.

 

[Moonbear]

We had a freeze overnight here last night too. The growing season started last week, so I've been getting freeze advisories. But, for the most part, I think most have likely been saved by all the rain, so haven't likely gotten a chance to do more than get seed in the ground last week when we finally had a few dry days. I don't think anyone is far enough along in planting to have plants to protect yet. I always wait for that one last May frost, because I know we always get one.

Though, it was a wonderful day for mowing the lawn and moving the last of my "stuff" from the old house to new yesterday. I'm glad it hasn't gotten too warm while I'm still doing so much work. Though, the lines where I'm mowing the lawn are looking more like a topography map than straight lines...the yard is very hilly, but for this area, it's pretty mild and I think would still be called a "flat" yard here.

 

[Evo]

As I mowed the lawn today, I spotted a few ferns trying to grow. I spared them with the lawnmower, and am now thinking that I should look for some of the varieties that like wet soil (some don't) and plant those in the yard. I either need to plant something tolerant of wet soil or I need to put in French drains or something like that. The low lying areas of the yard are definitely staying very wet. No wonder there are so many maple trees here...maples LOVE moist soil. There are some baby maples trying to grow, and I avoided mowing that part of the yard too...I'm going to give a few of the babies a chance. Since I have no intention to move again, it'll be nice to watch if a few of the baby trees survive and to see them grow.

MB, you might want to ask a landscape company to assess if raising the areas up will help, they will have to project where the water will go and how it will drain. I had a yard raised and re-graded before, it was really worth it in the long run.

 

[Moonbear]

MB, you might want to ask a landscape company to assess if raising the areas up will help, they will have to project where the water will go and how it will drain. I had a yard raised and re-graded before, it was really worth it in the long run.

I don't think that'll help in this case. Just looking at the overall topography of the land, if I raised that area enough to shift drainage to along a property line instead of diagonal across the backyard, I think I'd instead end up putting the house in a bowl. And, I kind of like having the "texture" to the yard. I think with some creative planting, and a little guidance from some low retaining walls, I can channel the water through a path that makes it more help than hindrance in terms of landscaping (I've always wanted a water feature, so I could also consider creating one along that path and when it rains, it just refills the fountains...water features are very popular around here for that very reason, with the mountain terrain, it gives people a way to channel drainage in an aesthetically pleasing way. What I really might need to do is just lower one area a bit where the water pools some so it just continues running off the hill instead of sitting.

 

[Borek]

I did the weed burn-off yesterday

 

[turbo]

Now, now Borek. The wildfire didn't consume THAT much property.

Our cold-tolerant plants are now in the ground. This morning, my wife and I planted and mulched cabbages, broccoli, cauliflower, and leeks. We also put in seeds for lettuce, spinach and Swiss chard. We had planned to set out our peppers, tomatoes, etc, too, but the long-range forecast predicts frost on Tuesday night.

 

[wolram]

It is a bush with cone shaped flowers lots of little ones form the cone, the cones are about 1.5 inches long and they are blue, what is it please, can't find it on google.

 

[turbo]

Does it look like hyacinth?
http://images.google.com/imgres?img...-shaped+flower+heads&hl=en&safe=off&sa=N&um=1

 

[wolram]

Does it look like hyacinth?
http://images.google.com/imgres?img...-shaped+flower+heads&hl=en&safe=off&sa=N&um=1

It is quite similar, but the florets are much smaller the leaves too.

 

[Borek]

Perhaps http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muscari_botryoides

 

[turbo]

My wife brought some tomato plants home from her sister's house this afternoon. She starts the plants in a south-facing daylight basement room. Unfortunately, there is not enough sun, so the seedlings are always "leggy" (skinny, tall plants incapable of properly supporting their own foliage in a proper garden with wind and rain).

To anybody with such tomato seedlings, PLANT THEM DEEP! Trench the rows if you have to, and plant the seedlings kind of "laid over" if that's what it takes, but only leave a few of the top branches out of the ground when you're done. Tomato plants have quite a number of indeterminant structures that will develop into roots if they are buried in moist, nutrient-rich soil. Even the crappiest, gangley-looking, tomato plants can develop impressive root systems if you bury them deeply enough. If you go to a greenhouse or nursery and see really spindly tomato seedlings, you may be able to get them very cheaply. Bury them deeply, and they will rival the performance and yield of the healthiest-looking seedlings costing much more.