The Official Gardening Thread

[Facetious]

^ All good! You're a better man than I being that you started from seeds, that's some dedication!

Best of growing, Dr.........

 

[Hot Mega]

Another thing I have heard about tomatoes is, it's always best to grow a series of plantings as opposed to growing solo plants :dunno: I'm not a botanist by trade, but I think that the plants compliment one another as far as the pollination exercise goes.

Also, you indicated that you had moved a plant to a more suitable location, well, if this particular plant is in a pot, I doubt that it will grow successfully because tomatoes are very deep rooting . . . as in, several feet deep rooting...(4-5-6+ feet deep rooting). Having said that, it's best to first dig out your growing bed to see if you have any ''hard pan" (clay)... if yes, you prolly wanna let a hose drip steadily over the hard pan overnight, thus allowing it to soften up to facilitate and easier digging experience. It's a lot of work sometimes, I know, but the reward comes in the form of fruit! :lovecoupl

In the meantime . . . :shake: :shake: :shake: :coolman:

Who knew Face was quite the green thumb....If I didn't know any better I'd think you were some pinko, lib pimpin' tree huggin' or something..

(How many hoes do you have?impdaddy)

 

[squallumz]

why do potatoes make good detectives?


because they keep their eyes peeled.

 

[TheOrangeCat]

why do potatoes make good detectives?


because they keep their eyes peeled.

Boooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!
:ban:

 

[Facetious]

Fuzzy Zoeller on collard greens among other things.





:eek::surprise:


:nono:

 

[squallumz]

Boooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!
:ban:

ok fine.

what do you call a stolen yam?
a hot potato.

 

[D-rock]

The only things I really would plant are tomatoes which you can never find anything remotely as good when you try to buy them, and peppers because their more of a quick thing that can be eaten. Maybe once in a while I would consider corn. I don't mind fruit threes but after they are most established those are something that take care of themselves. Herbs were always too much work to grow for me when I knew I wasn't going to use them that much. I'm not a big flower person. The ones I have are ones that keep popping up year after year and were put there by the person that lived in my house before I moved in years ago. I like the taste of fresh tomatoes better, but part of the problem with tomatoes is people get them all at once and often it's almost impossible to eat enough to not throw a good amount of them away. That's especially if you don't have anybody else to give them to. I'm not into canning either as the time and effort for the benefit gained was never worth it for me.

Part of the sad thing with gardening is that anymore it's almost not cost efficient compared to how one can go out and buy a lot of the food almost as cheaply. It's for people that like doing it for it's own sake.

We grew jalapenos last year - turned out great! I bet you'd have great success. Although NC is quite different from MI, I certainly do remember those MI summers.

I'm a little embarrassed to admit this :o, but to be brutally honest it's not so much that I don't think I can do it as much as I thought about it and just didn't feel like going through the effort this year.

 

[Petra]

Are they deeply red pigmented on the insides?
I was just curious because many of the grocery store purchased strawberries here tend to be somewhat dry, tart and tend to be pale (almost white) on the insides. (probably genetically manipulated by the trolls at Monsanto Corp.:hammer

It's probably too cool of a climate to grow a good tomato in your environment, yea?

Yes, they're nice and red inside, juicy and sweet. We have spanish strawberries in the store right now and they're just not the same as the dutch variety. Not as sweet.

I have a hanging basket of strawberries that I got as a gift on easter that's already producing ripe fruit and everyday I can go out and pick a handful. ;-)

I think the climate is just too cool for tomatoes to be grown outside. Depending on the housing market, if we're going to have to stay in our house for more than the next 4 years I might put a half greenhouse in so I can do tomatoes, cucumbers (they really don't like the weather over here) and hot peppers.

Zuchinni and pumpkin do really well here though. I grow lots of pumpkin to puree and freeze so I can make pumpkin pie through the year.

 

[squallumz]

tomatoes are pretty sun hungry beasts.

our squash and zucchini are fighting with said sun right now.

im gonna have to screen em off with some shade.

i think we spaced pumpkins.. oops. i know she wanted to grow some. i wonder if its too late..

 

[Petra]

I hate not knowing what pest(s) are damaging my plants. I have an apple tree and a pear tree, they're still fairly young but producing fruit. We also have some very young pecan trees. Anyway, the apple tree seems to be the worst, leaves are half-eaten, fruit goes bad very quickly. I wish I knew what to do to help it along...




Hahaha! Perfect.

You can always take pictures of the damage (and evidence) to your local extension agency and they can give you advice on how to treat the apples.

My family actually had an apple orchard with about 200 trees and 3 varieties (yellow delicious, red delicious, and granny smith) when I was growing up. I was in WA state, so I don't know what hits the trees your way, but coddling moths are always huge problem. It also can hit other fruit and nut trees.

 

[D-rock]

I like strawberries that are tart myself. What I don't like are the strawberries that end up mostly white inside and hardly have any flavor to them. Strawberries would be something that's good to grow if you can do it because they tend to decompose a lot faster than most other fruit. The window to get good strawberries is smaller than most fruit and it's easier if you can grow it yourself.

 

[squallumz]

i have bad luck with picking watermelon. the ones i pick are all white and bland.

i dont like sweet sweet but i hate no taste.

i hope the ones we're growing will be good.

 

[Petra]

I like strawberries that are tart myself. What I don't like are the strawberries that end up mostly white inside and hardly have any flavor to them. Strawberries would be something that's good to grow if you can do it because they tend to decompose a lot faster than most other fruit. The window to get good strawberries is smaller than most fruit and it's easier if you can grow it yourself.

Speaking of strawberries...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2010/apr/01/pineberry-strawberry-waitrose

Those were in the store the other day. Honestly, I thought it was an april fools joke but it's actually a fruit.

They're pretty tart and they do taste like pineapple and strawberry mooshed together. Odd and hellishly expensive. Almost 5 euro for 100g.

 

[Facetious]

I think the climate is just too cool for tomatoes to be grown outside. Depending on the housing market, if we're going to have to stay in our house for more than the next 4 years I might put a half greenhouse in so I can do tomatoes, cucumbers (they really don't like the weather over here) and hot peppers.

The climate in the N-lands probably isn't much different than, say... a Seattle climate in terms of annual day degrees, what say you?

The housing market? Does it look like some homeowners might find themselves upside down on their mortgages in the near future? I hope not.

Zuchinni and pumpkin do really well here though. I grow lots of pumpkin to puree and freeze so I can make pumpkin pie through the year.

Yummie! I love slicing up zucchini in a pan of hot EV olive oil with minced fresh garlic, a pinch of sea salt and a dash or two of finely grated black pepper corns! :yummie:

OMG, that would be amazing to have a nice hunkin wedge of pumpkin pie to eat out of season, I never thought about that. Good call! :thumbsup:

 

[RichardNailder]

i have bad luck with picking watermelon. the ones i pick are all white and bland.

I can't ever pick a good melon - I tend to leave them on the vine too long and select the ones that aren't ripe enough when I'm at the grocery store.

A good friend owns a melon farm in Rocky Ford Colorado - so when I need a good one - I have him pick it out. Smith's Corner

 

[Petra]

The climate in the N-lands probably isn't much different than, say... a Seattle climate in terms of annual day degrees, what say you?

The housing market? Does it look like some homeowners might find themselves upside down on their mortgages in the near future? I hope not.



Yummie! I love slicing up zucchini in a pan of hot EV olive oil with minced fresh garlic, a pinch of sea salt and a dash or two of finely grated black pepper corns! :yummie:

OMG, that would be amazing to have a nice hunkin wedge of pumpkin pie to eat out of season, I never thought about that. Good call! :thumbsup:

There's going to be some new laws passed on Aug 1st that's going to bring the housing market to a grinding halt. They want to reduce the amount first tiem buyers can loan, which means that little bit extra people tend to use on improvements (because lets face it, who moves into a house that at least doesn't need new coats of paint) will now have to come out of their pockets.

So that means all of us with "starter homes" are stuck with them for a very, very long time. If the housing market were moving the same when we bought 3 years ago, I'd be looking at upgrading in about 4 years so I'd wait to put a greenhouse in until we moved. But it looks like 7-10 years right now.

Oh, and yes. The climate is very comparable to Seattle. Though I think we actually see more sun over here. ;-) Was very impressive when I dragged the dutchie last time we were in WA state...it rained every day. It was like he never left Holland.

And my dutch relatives LOVE pumpkin pie. Think it's because the pumpkin spices remind them of speculus which is the dutch ginger spice cookies.

 

[TheOrangeCat]

And my dutch relatives LOVE pumpkin pie. Think it's because the pumpkin spices remind them of speculus which is the dutch Ginger Spice cookies.

I LOVE Ginger Spice cookies!

And auto-babe-correct.

BTW ... can you grow ginger in a temperate climate? We're in Zone 4?

 

[jinxypie]

There are a number of bugs that can ruin your fruit trees - I've had great success using Azatrol - you should spray it now and two or three more times during the summer.

I will definitely check out Azatrol. Thanks for the heads-up!

I'm a little embarrassed to admit this :o, but to be brutally honest it's not so much that I don't think I can do it as much as I thought about it and just didn't feel like going through the effort this year.

:nono: For shame.

You can always take pictures of the damage (and evidence) to your local extension agency and they can give you advice on how to treat the apples.

My family actually had an apple orchard with about 200 trees and 3 varieties (yellow delicious, red delicious, and granny smith) when I was growing up. I was in WA state, so I don't know what hits the trees your way, but coddling moths are always huge problem. It also can hit other fruit and nut trees.

That's a great suggestion. Thanks!
Coddling moths... I must look them up to see if there happen to be any around here.

Looks like Google will be my friend today!

 

[jinxypie]

I posted pics of my monster oregano and my few tomato plants via Twitpic. You can see them here if you'd like.
http://www.twitpic.com/photos/Jinxypie

Once I get the other stuff planted I'm sure I'll twitpic some shots of them, too.

I <3 gardening!

 

[Facetious]

I hate not knowing what pest(s) are damaging my plants. :

I've found that nightfall seems to be the best time to catch 'em pests in the act, just grab a flashlight and a magnifying glass if necessary, pluck the affected foliage or fruit and bring them to a reputable nursery in your area, they'll be more than happy to sell you a solution to your problems.

Wouldn't it be nice to finally be relieved of all the hate and uncertainty?

['' . . .I dragged the dutchie last time . .'']

Oh, that is hilarious, I'll have to run that one by him.