How's the garden coming along??

[PrincessFiona60]

We are tilling the garden under next weekend with the additional dirt the plumbing company finally delivered. We will water well, add in some composted manure and hope it comes up to near level with the surrounding ground. The horizontal onions are still doing well, we will nab those before we start tilling. I have a mess of mulch to tame the weeds for over winter.

 

[Cooking Goddess]

If you have newspapers, PF, I understand they work well on eliminating weeds. Put down a layer of 4-6 sheets of paper, then cover with a light coat (maybe 2-3 inches) of compost or mulch. By spring, the paper should have deteriorated. Till under the paper and compost/rotted mulch to enrich the soil and make it less compacted.

Good luck.

 

[PrincessFiona60]

Funny about newspapers...our weekly has 2 full sheets, didn't think about saving them

 

[Cheryl J]

How did the orange marigolds do? Mine didn't do all that well yet, but I'm hoping for a big burst of color this spring.

 

[PrincessFiona60]

Do you mean the poppies? I have to clear a space to plant them. Once the bachelor buttons are done, I'm setting that space for the poppies and will be sowing them this fall. As cold as it is getting at night, I might have to do that tomorrow, LOL!

 

[Cheryl J]

Do you mean the poppies? I have to clear a space to plant them. Once the bachelor buttons are done, I'm setting that space for the poppies and will be sowing them this fall. As cold as it is getting at night, I might have to do that tomorrow, LOL!

Aaargh....YES, that's what I meant.
Hopefully once they're planted and over a couple of seasons, they'll be an easy colorful flower bed for you with little maintenance.

 

[PrincessFiona60]

Aaargh....YES, that's what I meant.
Hopefully once they're planted and over a couple of seasons, they'll be an easy colorful flower bed for you with little maintenance.

That is what I am hoping for.

 

[Addie]

If you have newspapers, PF, I understand they work well on eliminating weeds. Put down a layer of 4-6 sheets of paper, then cover with a light coat (maybe 2-3 inches) of compost or mulch. By spring, the paper should have deteriorated. Till under the paper and compost/rotted mulch to enrich the soil and make it less compacted.

Good luck.

Just don't add colored pictures, printed material in colored ink, etc. Colored ink is a death throe to plants. And you can add shiny printed paper such as in magazines. Shiny pages are processed with a lot of chemicals to make the shiny. Just ask me how I know and found out.

Anytime I have used papers, I dampen them first to give them a head start. I also used papers in my compost pile. By springtime, I had more big fat healthy worms, than compost. My neighbors were asking for some for fishing. I should have forgotten the gardening and opened a shack selling worms.

 

[Steve Kroll]

Just don't add colored pictures, printed material in colored ink, etc. Colored ink is a death throe to plants.

Not true.

Maybe in the old days, when they made newspaper ink out of cadmium and other heavy metals, but newspaper ink anymore is made from soybean oil. It's completely biodegradable.

 

[blissful]

We started our raised gardens with cardboard, then branches and trimmings from pine and evergreen trees, then lime, then manure and mulch and black dirt. We don't till them, we just add mulch and manure and dirt on top. We are on year 6 or so, and they are beautiful providing lots of chard, strawberries, lettuce, beets, the straggler tomato or pepper, radishes and green onions. WE DO till our large gardens but these smaller ones are great and suffer less weeds without tilling.

 

[Addie]

Not true.

Maybe in the old days, when they made newspaper ink out of cadmium and other heavy metals, but newspaper ink anymore is made from soybean oil. It's completely biodegradable.

Well that is good news that I am very glad to hear. I know when my father worked at the newspaper, his job was to ink and tape up the ads. He ended up very sick and the hospital asked him what he did for a job. When he told them, they knew exactly what was making him so sick. He had to wear surgical gloves and a mask after that bout.

Thanks for the update. Much appreciated.

 

[blissful]

Everything is doing good! large tomato and potato plants, onions look good.
Took out the garlic last week, replanted the area with beans and peas and odd things.
We are curing the garlic outside in the wind, under a tarp on an overhang of the deck.
Harvested some chives, trimmed back basil again and made basil/oil, to freeze for pesto. Harvested our first collards. We've never grown them before and they are cooking on the stove with bacon, onions, chicken broth, vinegar, red pepper, salt and garlic. Cucumbers are 2 inches long, almost time to make pickles. Tomatoes are loaded with green tomatoes, nothing red yet. Peppers look great. Zucchini has 3 little one's on them. We've been eating lots of lettuces in salads. Busy gardening time of year.

 

[Rascal]

Chalk way through winter here so I've just started planting seeds, radishes lettuce and peas.

Russ

 

[blissful]

Chalk way through winter here so I've just started planting seeds, radishes lettuce and peas.

Russ

Do you get snow there Russ?

 

[Whiskadoodle]

The garden is doing great, thank you for asking. the cilantro and arugula are done and since we are having normal, not heat wave temps this week, I am planting a 2nd row of green beans. Herbs are in fine shape and I'm thinking I should dry some now rather than in the fall. Great-actually stupendous -raspberry harvest this year. Froze lots, pre measured, to make jam this fall when it gets cooler in the house. Birds and squirrels are fat and sassy from all the blueberries they absconded. , even though the bushes were netted. Tomatoes are coming along fine. I put chicken wire around their cages and chicken wire expandable "hats" across the tops to ihwart the squirrels.

I bought two replacement bird feeders, the old ones looked, well, Old, not appetizing even if the birds didn't mind. However, it seems they like the new ones as they empty them at record speed.

 

[blissful]

Whisk, I'm in WI and it's been unseasonably hot, and today is pretty good 77 degrees F, almost normal! I ripped out all my lettuce and put in new seed, they were getting seedy from the heat. I also ripped out our cilantro and put in radishes. I harvested all the chives last month and they are already all grown back! But even though it's been too hot TOO HOT, the gardens are looking amazing. I'm glad yours are doing well too.

 

[Whiskadoodle]

I know Bliss. I've been wilting in this heat, but the gardens, and flowers love it. I've been keeping everything well watered this summer.

 

[Dawgluver]

So far, I'm very pleased. The bunnies usually chew my bean plants down to nubs even after successive plantings, but this year they didn't and I may have beans! Critters have enjoyed the lower- level ripe cherry tomatoes and ripe blueberries, but there're much more to come. Cukes are flowering like gangbusters, but dagnabbit, I forgot to plant dill, hope to scrounge some from a roadside stand.

 

[blissful]

So far, I'm very pleased. The bunnies usually chew my bean plants down to nubs even after successive plantings, but this year they didn't and I may have beans! Critters have enjoyed the lower- level ripe cherry tomatoes and ripe blueberries, but there're much more to come. Cukes are flowering like gangbusters, but dagnabbit, I forgot to plant dill, hope to scrounge some from a roadside stand.

Last year was our best green bean year ever. (also the year tomatoes didn't do well at all) So we capitalized on that. We started with a few rows the in the spring, and twice the bunnies nibbled many of them off, which we expected, so we planted more, and lost a few more, put in a few more. Then when the garlic was harvested, we planted beans in July in that area. With the fall being mild we had so many beans, it was crazy. I canned 80 jars, some pints some quarts, more than enough for 2 years.



I think the bunnies get their fill early in the season, then they eat other stuff. But I do have to say we did dispatch 7 this year so far, to save the garden from their rampages.

 

[Rascal]

Do you get snow there Russ?

Maybe once or twice we get a dusting , none so far this year. Lots of frosts in winter here. Summer here is not uncommon to get up to 30 or 32 deg Celsius.

I like to take a 10 day break in Australia in our winter.

Russ