Garden time!

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(laughing at myself, kingfisher...) yeah, the shelf life of dirt....

Dittos on your other suggestions for raised beds. All the knowledge they tried to teach me during the Master Gardener course a few years ago started coming back while reading your post.
 
Tx for the tips! Actually, the beds were already purchased, and are 3x3x10"; from gardener's supply company, made from black recycled plastic. I just laid them on the ground (which is an old graveled boat storage area in the yard), put thick layers of newspaper down first, then filled the beds about 3/4 of the way up with the most beautiful mulch we have from a hickory tree we cut down 2 springs ago; I had no idea it had broken down so much, but it's the most beautiful black soil, just filled with earthworms! Added an 8 lb bag each of vermiculite and perlite, then added 2 40 lb bags of good topsoil. The 'dirt' looks gorgeous! We don't have moles or gophers, so I'm not real worried about that. We do have possums and 'coons, tho, and have bought some bobcat urine (!) to scatter around the beds; figure that'll keep those critters away! I used coyote urine up in Jersey, and all the woodchucks went bye-bye!!
 
It's a little early for us too ... but Paul's been ready to play in the dirt for awhile. I think we're going to scale back this year and just do,

spinach
tomatoes
Zucchini
and
lots of peas.
 
My dianthus are looking beautiful and spreading out in the garden now. I can't wait to go shopping for more plants and for my hibiscus to grow a bit more to plant them on the ground.
 
mudbug said:
OK, you serious gardeners:

I've got an unopened bag of potting soil that has been sitting on the porch, and then the deck, in a covered location for at least a year.

Should I toss it, use it to repot inside plants, or throw it on one of the beds I'm gonna replant outside this year?

i cannot believe you asked this question when i wasn't around. we need to work on our comedic timing, you and me 'bug.

lol, that's like the "save the earth" movement. the earth is fine, and will be here until our sun goes supernova, way off in the future. it's people that may not be here...
 
bucky, our timing is off a lot. I am usually snoring when you are entertaining the audience. Beat me over the head with the Nerf baseball bat - I know, I know, I don't know potting soil from shinola!

But I do know good ole Mother will be around here long after you and I have told our last joke.
 
I'd mix it in one of the beds outside Mudbug.

Since my sweet basil is gone with the weed killer,:ermm: I decided to get me a few plants. When I was about to plant them on the herb bed, I noticed some white, ash looking stuff on the gardening soil. Eek! Can anyone tell me what in the world that is? I decided to repot the sweet basil plants instead while I fix the soil, if it's possible to repair with that eeky stuff in it.
 
Sounds like a fungus - You can probably spray the area with a soap containing a fungicide and get rid of it.
 
yup, either minerals from hard water, or fungus or mildew. beware of chemical fungicides. try using powdered sulfur.
 
Yikes! I'm concerned now since my peppers are in the same bed and they're just about ready to eat. I will go back to the nursery to look for sulfur. Thanks you all.
 
it shouldn't affect nightshades, like peppers and eggplant. but it will get to cucumbers and squash, so sulfur will do the trick.
 
Dina, I tried googling some pictures for you before I posted, but didn't find any clear enough to really show it. I'd put some in a ziplock and take it to a 'knowledgeable' garden center or nursery; they'll certainly know if it is myco, and if not, what you can use to get rid of it.
 
I just hope I'm able to get some garden out this year. My grandson who helped me with the gardening is in a drug and psychiatric treatment facility for 120 days, and after that will probably be going to a group home. He will not be back for a long time. This is the best thing for him, though. He was on a path to self-destruction.
Kim (hubby) said he would till, and Jesse, my 8 year old GS says he will plant the plants for me. There is one condition...I have to keep it small. I think I can get by on 8 tomato plants and 6 sweet red pepper plants.
Have any of you actually tried planting the plants in straw bales? I am thinking of ways to cut down on upkeep. We always mulch thickly with straw, but still get some weeds, and I am not able, and nobody else is willing to pull weeds.
 
Constance,
I will be praying for your grandson that his life is soon restored to normalcy. About the planting...try the black sheeting to keep the weeds from growing on your peppers and tomatoes. They work wonderfully for our ixoras, which in fact, they have bloomed beautifully, finally! Except for one-it seems to be some fungus on the leaves. They turning black and the bloom has some sort of powder on it. I'm fixing to take samples of both flower beds to get the soil checked and treated tomorrow.
 
Constance said:
I just hope I'm able to get some garden out this year. My grandson who helped me with the gardening is in a drug and psychiatric treatment facility for 120 days, and after that will probably be going to a group home. He will not be back for a long time. This is the best thing for him, though. He was on a path to self-destruction.
Kim (hubby) said he would till, and Jesse, my 8 year old GS says he will plant the plants for me. There is one condition...I have to keep it small. I think I can get by on 8 tomato plants and 6 sweet red pepper plants.
Have any of you actually tried planting the plants in straw bales? I am thinking of ways to cut down on upkeep. We always mulch thickly with straw, but still get some weeds, and I am not able, and nobody else is willing to pull weeds.
Connie, I hope things go well for your grandson. This must be very hard for you..You're in my prayers and I think of you and your grandsonn each day..
You asked about planting in hay bales..I do remember we had a thread on here some time ago, Crewsk put it up and she planted in the bales and loved it..I'll see if I can find it you look too as I get lost rather easy these days:LOL:

kadesma
 
Constance, my thoughts are with you; difficult times, but 'tough love' works, and sounds as though it's the best choice.

Gardening and cooking have been my 'therapies' in the difficult times I've had since my son's accident in 1998. Sometimes the only peace I could find was either in the garden or the kitchen. So I'm sending you all my encouragement to get that garden started! Why don't you look into raised beds? Easier to manage, don't have to bend over so far, and weeding is pretty easily controlled with a little mulch.
 
marmalady said:
Constance - a bluebird! Surely that must mean good luck or something?:)

It did to me, marm. I'd had a terrible day, and was feeling low as a snake's belly. Seeing the bluebird come back felt like a promise of better times to come.

Thank you for your prayers, dear friends.
 
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Constance - :) .

My peas are up! As well as all of the greens(mesclun, kale, mustard, spinach, beet greens, arugula, frisee)! Just planted tomatoes, scallion sets, zucchini/yellow squash, eggplant, and green beans. Now that we have a digital camera, I'll have to get DH to take a pic of it, and post it!
 
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