The Gardening Thread. This is where "tailgating" begins..

[Dagonet]

Got my garden going. How about you all? Not much for tailgating this early.. Just the early stuff like romaine lettuce, spinach, red leaf lettuce, beets, red onions, and green leaf lettuce. Also getting ready to plant cucumber and zucchini seeds. However here is the first and most important round for my hot peppers and tomatoes. Mule manure..

 

[RhodyRams]

havent done much with ours yet...did spread some cow manure and roto tilled the main garden. Wifey has belll peppers, tomatoes and such all started from seed. The asparagus is starting to pop and got the potatoes almost ready to go in the ground

thinking about trying to grow potatoes a new way this year as seen here:

http://www.organicgardening.com/learn-and-grow/7-ways-plant-potatoes?page=0,6

 

[Dagonet]

havent done much with ours yet...did spread some cow manure and roto tilled the main garden. Wifey has belll peppers, tomatoes and such all started from seed. The asparagus is starting to pop and got the potatoes almost ready to go in the ground

thinking about trying to grow potatoes a new way this year as seen here:

http://www.organicgardening.com/learn-and-grow/7-ways-plant-potatoes?page=0,6

A friend of mine did that (sort of, I don't think she used wire), I never asked her how it worked, but will tomorrow. I'm stopping by their place to see her tomato cages. I have never tried potatoes but probably will next year after we get this old shed torn down. I had some that another friend grew a few years back and they were more tasty than store bought ones. I've just never had the room.

I'm also starting more stuff from seed this year rather than buying plants. Zucchini and cukes for one. Where is the Misses doing her starters? We get a smaller/new shed I'm thinking of doing them in there, but not sure of the cold and keeping them heated.

How fresh was your manure? Was it seasoned (compost) or fresh? Just curious is all. I'm using mule manure as I have heard it's on the same level as horse manure. Right now everything I have out is up and jamming. Romaine and red leaf lettuce, beets, red onions, and spinach. Keep us posted on how things are going man.

 

[RhodyRams]

That's why we are trying the potatoes in wire cylinders this year... it should save us some room in garden

we have a sunroom on our house that gets sun about 8 hours a day. Usually it is our home office(s) but this time of year it always gets turned into a hot house lol. In a few weeks I will have some mini greenhouses up


I usually get half a yard of composted manure from Here http://www.earthcarefarm.com/ and depending on how our 3 compost bins did over the winter I may end up with more than I need

 

[Dagonet]

The first batch of Hungarian hotwax peppers.. I have 20 quarts pickled already and have enjoyed many poppers. I love the flavor of these peppers. Great on the grill also, or with salsa and a cheese dip.

 

[CGI_Ram]

The first batch of Hungarian hotwax peppers.. I have 20 quarts pickled already and have enjoyed many poppers. I love the flavor of these peppers. Great on the grill also, or with salsa and a cheese dip.

Nice!!

 

[PhxRam]

The first batch of Hungarian hotwax peppers.. I have 20 quarts pickled already and have enjoyed many poppers. I love the flavor of these peppers. Great on the grill also, or with salsa and a cheese dip.

I think you like flaunting your peppers in my face..

 

[Tron]

The first batch of Hungarian hotwax peppers.. I have 20 quarts pickled already and have enjoyed many poppers. I love the flavor of these peppers. Great on the grill also, or with salsa and a cheese dip.

Makes my mouth water seeing those beauties!!

 

[CodeMonkey]

I'm a beginning gardener. It's a really fun hobby actually. I have to consider this year to be a learning experience more than anything. I did have a lot of fail but some success. Planted tomatoes, cucumbers, jalapenos, sweet peppers, giant pumpkins, canteloupe, watermelon, blueberry, raspberry, blackberry.

Tomatoes have been only OK. Seem slow to ripen. Rabbits just discoverd them too. Little bastards!!!! I should have put one of those round wire structures on the plant when i planted it. Impossible to do after it gets some size and Trying to stake it up and tie it doesnt work very well.

Cucumbers grew real well at first but have tapered off a lot. I think they're about done. Lesson: again, give them some structure.

Peppers not so good. Jalapeno plant only gave me about 6/7 peppers and sweet peppers have given me jack squat. I guess they're stunted or something but just haven't grown at all. Mostly fail.

My best plant died but I got two pumpkins on the smaller one. They're sure not giant though...about like a beach ball. Not sure what happened but the fruit just started to rot from the inside and the whole plant withered from the end down. Not a complete fail but barely successful.

Canteloupe is my best thing. I've harvested two fruits and they were excellent. About 6 still on the vine.

Watermelon started super slow and still is. I've got about 8 fruits about the size of a golf ball. Maybe they turn out....maybe not. Mostly fail.

Berries - of the three starts only one has survived. No berries, not even green. Pretty much fail. I think im going to dig her up, put her in a pot and take her inside for the winter. They say berries and grapes take a few years to get going. I'm not giving up. Berries are awesome.

Next year's garden is going to kick ass. I'm planning massive upgrades and expansion.

 

[Dagonet]

I think you like flaunting your peppers in my face..

Never Governor.. Hell, if we get a tad more rain I may send you some for your efforts on this site. Just saying.

 

[Dagonet]

I'm a beginning gardener. It's a really fun hobby actually. I have to consider this year to be a learning experience more than anything. I did have a lot of fail but some success. Planted tomatoes, cucumbers, jalapenos, sweet peppers, giant pumpkins, canteloupe, watermelon, blueberry, raspberry, blackberry.

Tomatoes have been only OK. Seem slow to ripen. Rabbits just discoverd them too. Little bastards!!!! I should have put one of those round wire structures on the plant when i planted it. Impossible to do after it gets some size and Trying to stake it up and tie it doesnt work very well.

Cucumbers grew real well at first but have tapered off a lot. I think they're about done. Lesson: again, give them some structure.

Peppers not so good. Jalapeno plant only gave me about 6/7 peppers and sweet peppers have given me jack squat. I guess they're stunted or something but just haven't grown at all. Mostly fail.

My best plant died but I got two pumpkins on the smaller one. They're sure not giant though...about like a beach ball. Not sure what happened but the fruit just started to rot from the inside and the whole plant withered from the end down. Not a complete fail but barely successful.

Canteloupe is my best thing. I've harvested two fruits and they were excellent. About 6 still on the vine.

Watermelon started super slow and still is. I've got about 8 fruits about the size of a golf ball. Maybe they turn out....maybe not. Mostly fail.

Berries - of the three starts only one has survived. No berries, not even green. Pretty much fail. I think im going to dig her up, put her in a pot and take her inside for the winter. They say berries and grapes take a few years to get going. I'm not giving up. Berries are awesome.

Next year's garden is going to kick ass. I'm planning massive upgrades and expansion.

Don't have the time right now, but I have a few ideas for you. For instance, cucumbers need " A LOT" of water or they will bust out and taper off (with lack of water). Keep jamming though. Nothing wrong with being self sufficient.... Kudos to you man.

 

[Dagonet]

Makes my mouth water seeing those beauties!!

My camera sucks but these guys will do more than make your mouth water Tron my friend.

 

[PhxRam]

Never Governor.. Hell, if we get a tad more rain I may send you some for your efforts on this site. Just saying.

You had me at maybe..

 

[Dagonet]

You had me at maybe..

Picked fresh, USPS Priority is cool. Sent Rhody some last year and they made it cool. I'd send a jar but the damn shipping would be high.. We're doing poppers for this friday's preseason game. Good stuff.

 

[CodeMonkey]

Don't have the time right now, but I have a few ideas for you. For instance, cucumbers need " A LOT" of water or they will bust out and taper off (with lack of water). Keep jamming though. Nothing wrong with being self sufficient.... Kudos to you man.

Such a fun hobby. I'm eager for any tips. It's so fun to plant a seed with love and care then, if you're good, enjoy nature's gifts. Great hobby! I am so hooked!

 

[Dieter the Brock]

Damn
Jealous as frick
For some reason this year in my neck of the Hill Country we have gotten absolutely no good rain in the last 2 months. The last time we had rain was from the tornado that whipped through here and took down about 7 cedars - no Live Oaks thank God!
The ground here is caliche which is that white limestone sandy shite - and I created some raised beds out of old cattle troughs with my son but that turned out to be a disaster. We planted tomatoes, okra, peppers, and they all went down in flames.
So we scrapped that idea and have decided we will take a half acre and fence it in - and get a back hoe and dig out the holes in ground and line it with weed barrier, some rocks and really good soil - and start planting for fall.
That's Plan B. I am thankful you guys are here cause I will most likely be asking questions cause all I have on my side is my boy - he is bright and eager but only 11.
We harvest our own beef, pork, and lamb here at the ranch and if I can just get the garden going strong we can almost cut out all our expenses for groceries - then the only frontier left would be making my own beer
Thanks for posting this - those peppers make me happy

 

[RhodyRams]

I'm a beginning gardener. It's a really fun hobby actually. I have to consider this year to be a learning experience more than anything. I did have a lot of fail but some success. Planted tomatoes, cucumbers, jalapenos, sweet peppers, giant pumpkins, canteloupe, watermelon, blueberry, raspberry, blackberry.

Tomatoes have been only OK. Seem slow to ripen. Rabbits just discoverd them too. Little bastards!!!! I should have put one of those round wire structures on the plant when i planted it. Impossible to do after it gets some size and Trying to stake it up and tie it doesnt work very well.

Cucumbers grew real well at first but have tapered off a lot. I think they're about done. Lesson: again, give them some structure.

Peppers not so good. Jalapeno plant only gave me about 6/7 peppers and sweet peppers have given me jack squat. I guess they're stunted or something but just haven't grown at all. Mostly fail.

My best plant died but I got two pumpkins on the smaller one. They're sure not giant though...about like a beach ball. Not sure what happened but the fruit just started to rot from the inside and the whole plant withered from the end down. Not a complete fail but barely successful.

Canteloupe is my best thing. I've harvested two fruits and they were excellent. About 6 still on the vine.

Watermelon started super slow and still is. I've got about 8 fruits about the size of a golf ball. Maybe they turn out....maybe not. Mostly fail.

Berries - of the three starts only one has survived. No berries, not even green. Pretty much fail. I think im going to dig her up, put her in a pot and take her inside for the winter. They say berries and grapes take a few years to get going. I'm not giving up. Berries are awesome.

Next year's garden is going to kick ass. I'm planning massive upgrades and expansion.

Rabbits can be a real pain in the back side. This year we got some dehydrated fox urine in a shaker can and sprinkled it around the gardens....100%organic or you can buy chemicals. It seems to have worked until heavy rains..then you have to re-apply... we figured that out after a whole crop of beans got attacked !!

Cukes will do ok but they are unreliable. 2 years ago we couldnt give them away so wifey made pickles...1,500,500 jars of em I think LOL. This year we have gotten only a few.

Berries need a few years. If the plant was a starter, usually wont get fruit for a year or 2 until it matures. We have has a bumper crop of raspberries and blackberries this year from plants we started 2 years ago. Strawberries we dont seem to have luck with, either squirrels or chipmunks seem to win the battle every year.

Have gotten a few ears of corn, but Christine had the wonderful idea of trying popcorn this year.. so we have more popcorn stalks than we do sweet corn stalks LMAO

Wifey started succession planting this year for beans and peas etc this year. She starts a crop of them, waits a few weeks then starts more. Potatoes are almost ready, tomatoes are rerally coming along, have picked a few eggplants, yellow squash, bell peppers along with snap peas, brussel sprouts, asparagas,(first year on that) carrots, onions, beet greens, arugala swiss chard broccoli rabe.

She gets all the credit for the garden planning. She squeezes everything in and manages it all year, all I do is haul cow manure, turn compost bins , roto till, put up green houses and fencing ... all in the spring. she grows and picks everything !!!

 

[cracengl]

I'm a beginning gardener. It's a really fun hobby actually. I have to consider this year to be a learning experience more than anything. I did have a lot of fail but some success. Planted tomatoes, cucumbers, jalapenos, sweet peppers, giant pumpkins, canteloupe, watermelon, blueberry, raspberry, blackberry.

Tomatoes have been only OK. Seem slow to ripen. Rabbits just discoverd them too. Little bastards!!!! I should have put one of those round wire structures on the plant when i planted it. Impossible to do after it gets some size and Trying to stake it up and tie it doesnt work very well.

Cucumbers grew real well at first but have tapered off a lot. I think they're about done. Lesson: again, give them some structure.

Peppers not so good. Jalapeno plant only gave me about 6/7 peppers and sweet peppers have given me jack squat. I guess they're stunted or something but just haven't grown at all. Mostly fail.

My best plant died but I got two pumpkins on the smaller one. They're sure not giant though...about like a beach ball. Not sure what happened but the fruit just started to rot from the inside and the whole plant withered from the end down. Not a complete fail but barely successful.

Canteloupe is my best thing. I've harvested two fruits and they were excellent. About 6 still on the vine.

Watermelon started super slow and still is. I've got about 8 fruits about the size of a golf ball. Maybe they turn out....maybe not. Mostly fail.

Berries - of the three starts only one has survived. No berries, not even green. Pretty much fail. I think im going to dig her up, put her in a pot and take her inside for the winter. They say berries and grapes take a few years to get going. I'm not giving up. Berries are awesome.

Next year's garden is going to kick ass. I'm planning massive upgrades and expansion.

Where did you plant your peppers? Start them from seed, or buy transplants? I'd refer you to www.pepperjoe.com. He's got some really awesome super hot seeds for sale, but also a lot of good info growing the peppers from seed all the way to fruiting. My current pepper plants are loaded down with peppers, I'm just trying to leave them on the vine as long as possible to maximize their maturity and hopefully their hotness. Some of the first ones I picked were not hot at all. I've since tried adding more phosphorus and potassium (epsom salt is good), rather than with a lot of nitrogen.

My watermelon are in the same boat as yours. I kind of only half assed them because my son is now 4 months old and I haven't had a lot of time to garden. But right now they are just getting to the point of having blossoms.

As for berries, I started strawberries last year from the bare root packages you can buy at Lowes and Home Depot. None of them did jack. I ended up buying a bunch already started from a nursery. This year, I had strawberries coming out the butt. I think I probably picked 10 lbs easily.

Its the same deal with your bramble type berries and blueberries as well. My blue berries still haven't done much this year, but I did read that it can take 3 or more years before they really get established and start growing a lot. As for brambles, I planted raspberries, blackberries, and boysenberries last year and had nothing besides cane growth. But this year I had tons of berries. If you look up brambles, you'll find that they have 2 different types of canes (I forget the names exactly). But essentially, the ones that grow this year will fruit next year then new canes will appear for the year after. I think there are some varieties that behave just a little differently also, but that's pretty much it. So just keep those canes you have now trellised up high and wait for next year. Then when they are done fruiting, you'll have to prune them back out of the way for the new crop of canes.

Good luck man!

 

[cracengl]

Rabbits can be a real pain in the back side. This year we got some dehydrated fox urine in a shaker can and sprinkled it around the gardens....100%organic or you can buy chemicals. It seems to have worked until heavy rains..then you have to re-apply... we figured that out after a whole crop of beans got attacked !!

Cukes will do ok but they are unreliable. 2 years ago we couldnt give them away so wifey made pickles...1,500,500 jars of em I think LOL. This year we have gotten only a few.

Berries need a few years. If the plant was a starter, usually wont get fruit for a year or 2 until it matures. We have has a bumper crop of raspberries and blackberries this year from plants we started 2 years ago. Strawberries we dont seem to have luck with, either squirrels or chipmunks seem to win the battle every year.

Have gotten a few ears of corn, but Christine had the wonderful idea of trying popcorn this year.. so we have more popcorn stalks than we do sweet corn stalks LMAO

Wifey started succession planting this year for beans and peas etc this year. She starts a crop of them, waits a few weeks then starts more. Potatoes are almost ready, tomatoes are rerally coming along, have picked a few eggplants, yellow squash, bell peppers along with snap peas, brussel sprouts, asparagas,(first year on that) carrots, onions, beet greens, arugala swiss chard broccoli rabe.

She gets all the credit for the garden planning. She squeezes everything in and manages it all year, all I do is haul cow manure, turn compost bins , roto till, put up green houses and fencing ... all in the spring. she grows and picks everything !!!

I found something online where someone took some 1/2" pieces of pvc and bent them over the top of their berries and attached them to the boards of their raised beds with clamps so they could be easily removed. Then the curvature over the top of the planters was perfect to put bird netting over. I tried doing this with mine and it worked, but I found that nothing bothered them anyway, besides slugs and snails.

 

[CodeMonkey]

@cracengl thanks for the tips. My melons and pumpkins I planted from seed. Everything else is starters from home depot...probably the suckiest of all places to buy such things. It's a very rewarding hobby and I've learned a lot. My post sounds pretty dreadful but I have had some successes and we've sure enjoyed natures gifts. I built a single 4/8 raised box this year and just planted my melons in mounds of dirt. I have great designs on next years garden already. It's gonna rule!!!!

Have you ever fooled with hydroponics or soil-less gardens? I'm considering that or some sort of containerized garden next year.