Gardeners of AW, unite

Captcha · May 28, 2015

TessB said:
I'm trying rosemary again; I'm hoping that bringing it inside with a sunlamp over the winter will actually keep it alive this year. Coastal winters at 44 north (hiya, Captcha!) aren't kind to Mediterranean perennials.

I've had good luck with overwintering my rosemary in an east-facing window in a cool room, giving it way more water that I feel like I should. (My instinct was to let it dry out between waterings and encourage it to go a bit dormant, but the plants I tried this with withered up and died. I've done "evenly moist" the last couple years with good results).

TessB · May 28, 2015

Ohhhhhhh, yes. Okay. That was the same mistake I made, in that case. I'll try the moist version this year. Thank you!

shakeysix · May 28, 2015

Anyone have a spare bilge pump? My garden soil has turned to pudding. Flats of plants turning yellow and dropping leaves on my porch and new thunderheads building up as i type this. This morning I spotted a snail on a tumbleweed. --s6

dirtsider · Jun 2, 2015

Finally had rain the past couple of days. May was a very dry month in my area although the reservoirs were in good shape due to all the rain and snow during the winter and spring. The strawberries are almost finished for the season. I did see some flowers on the peas. The tomato plants have a combination of some flowers and some early green tomatoes already growing. I think the carrots I planted early on are finally coming along although the parsnips didn't seem to make it. I'm not too worried about the parsnips since I realized after I planted them that I should've waited until later in the season. I generally want parsnips for soups in the fall and winter, rather than spring and summer.

The cucumbers seem to have taken root and I just bought some trellises for them this past weekend. I'll see if that helps any. I haven't used trellises in the past, especially not for cucumbers. I have poles that I tried last year for the beans and they seem to be doing well for the peas. I picked up more poles (taller than what I picked up at the end of last season). If I decide to plant cantalope this year, I'll try using the trellises for them as well, to keep the cantalope off the ground.

harmonyisarine · Jun 10, 2015

So, I started my seedlings in pots inside months ago. And then I accidentally scorched most of them to death. Started over, they're all nearly big enough to resist the chickens now, so this weekend I get to build a second raised bed and get them all settled in.

The straight-to-ground seeds had mixed success. Maybe 2/3 of the carrots sprouted, so I have to fill those in, the radishes are growing faster than I can keep up with, and the peas and purple beans are on their way to making me food. Lots of flowers already! On the other hand, the broccoli and the Swiss chard are only 1/3 to 1/2 germination, so I'm having to do lots of filling in and it's making me cross. At least they won't all be ready at once?

shakeysix · Jun 15, 2015

I will be spending my winters in Florida now that I have retired. My daughter--a non-gardener- is giving me a corner of her yard, a shady corner, for a garden. The zone is 10B I think--Hollywood. The tree looks to be deciduous, is that possible in Florida? I need to research the zone and available plants. I would appreciate any suggestions or advice--s6

blacbird · Jun 16, 2015

We here in Alaska have had an exceptionally warm and dry spring (and big wildfires have started not too far from my hometown of Anchorage). But this has caused me to cave in to a major weakness: trying to grow peppers and tomatoes. I nearly always fail miserably at doing so, and haven't tried for three or four years now. Last summer was cool, cloudy and wet, and it would have been impossible to grow such things outside a heated greenhouse. This year, so far, it's sunny and, by our standards, hot. Upper 70s to 80 degrees F. So, I got peppers and tomatoes going.

Pray for my soul.

caw

shakeysix · Jun 16, 2015

The wheat has turned golden here but it is too wet to cut. Thunderstorms almost daily. I am getting my pots planted up. Tomatoes and peppers suffering but my lilies are more beautiful than I have ever seen them--some, a bulb mix I bought from high school fund raising kids, are blooming for the first time ever. Baby's Breath is thriving too, although it usually likes drier soil. This morning I filled a yellow crockery pitcher of blue sage and pink cosmos for the table. Flower Child grown to Flower Woman--s6

sunandshadow · Jun 16, 2015

On my asian pear tree, the fruits have seemed to stop getting bigger, even though the european pears on the tree right next to it are growing noticeably. They both have gotten plenty of water recently. Any ideas?

dirtsider · Jun 19, 2015

Harvesting a lot of peas. I love peas so I planted a lot this year. Next year I think I won't plant as many since they're pretty tangled. The carrots that finally sprouted are coming along. I've picked one here and there to gauge their progress. The one I picked last night was still small (think 'baby' carrot size) so I'll continue to let them grow. This is the third year (I think) I've planted carrots and each year I've gotten better at recognizing the greens and leaving them be so they can grow to a decent size. The tomato plants are huge but the tomatoes themselves haven't ripened enough to pick yet. I need to make sure I don't plant anything so close to the lavender in the future.

Viridian · Jun 19, 2015

In my garden, I have:

Cucumbers, tomatoes, two kinds of squash, green beans, lettuce, onions, and carrots.

I eat only one of these things.

What am I doing.

CoffeeBeans · Jun 20, 2015

dirtsider said:
Harvesting a lot of peas. I love peas so I planted a lot this year.

I wish I understood peas. Last year, we had tons of peas from two little plants. This year, the peas (and the green beans too, for that matter) have both grown like crazy and produced exactly nothing. (I lie, two pea pods, and someone else has a green bean...)

The only things that are growing like crazy is the cucumber. Only planted one this year after all the excess from last year (still eating the pickles) and it's already trying to climb out of the bed. The whole vine is covered with future-cucumbers.

ViridianChick- I think every year I grow something just to grow it that I have no interest in eating. This year at least it wasn't squash again (squash bugs, ugh.)

harmonyisarine · Jun 20, 2015

Coffeebeans, look into giving the peas and beans some plant food that inspires flower production rather than growing. I forget what that ratio is, but it's different than the standard plant food, which makes plants want to get big and leafy but less flowering.

My raspberries are being weeded today! And after the blacks finish fruiting, we're deconstructing this bed to keep the types from destroying each other. The blacks will stay where they are and be merged into a neighboring black patch, the reds will do the same (though I'll probably need to buy some more red canes, I had a few varieties before but now only one), and the golds in the middle will be moved to a new location. In the future, mowing will keep them all apart.

blacbird · Jun 20, 2015

dirtsider said:
Harvesting a lot of peas.

What kind of peas? I grow only snap peas and snow peas, the kinds with edible pods. They are fantastic, and I can't see any reason for growing the ones you have to shell to eat.

caw

sunandshadow · Jun 20, 2015

ViridianChick said:
In my garden, I have:

Cucumbers, tomatoes, two kinds of squash, green beans, lettuce, onions, and carrots.

I eat only one of these things.

What am I doing.

Maybe try eating them? Most of those have a ton of different foods they are used in, it would be surprising if there wasn't one that you would like. (Me, onions make me sick, and I only like cucumbers in a dip or salad, but the rest are quire flexible. Squash is good savory or sweet, spicy or mild. Lettuce can be used in sandwiches as a leaf here and there if you don't like salads. Tomatoes can be anything from a soup or sauce to a pizza or sandwich topping, not to mention they go great with cheese; they are the foundation of italian food, and quite common in mexican and indian food.. Carrots are nice by themselves raw, cooked with butter or honey, shredded in cole slaw, or cooked in with a roast. Green beans are great dehydrated, if you happen to have a dehydrator, they combine well with onions, they are great boiled with just salt water or a little butter...

Viridian · Jun 21, 2015

The most awful thing just happened. A gardener's nightmare. I went to harvest my snap peas -- I had a bunch, all perfectly sized -- and they're all gone. The pods, the buds, the flowers. I left the garden gate open and a deer got in and ate them all.

The deer also -- very thoughtfully -- trimmed eight inches off my tomato plants.

sunandshadow said:
Maybe try eating them? Most of those have a ton of different foods they are used in, it would be surprising if there wasn't one that you would like. (Me, onions make me sick, and I only like cucumbers in a dip or salad, but the rest are quire flexible. Squash is good savory or sweet, spicy or mild. Lettuce can be used in sandwiches as a leaf here and there if you don't like salads. Tomatoes can be anything from a soup or sauce to a pizza or sandwich topping, not to mention they go great with cheese; they are the foundation of italian food, and quite common in mexican and indian food.. Carrots are nice by themselves raw, cooked with butter or honey, shredded in cole slaw, or cooked in with a roast. Green beans are great dehydrated, if you happen to have a dehydrator, they combine well with onions, they are great boiled with just salt water or a little butter...

I'm definitely going to try. I'm hoping that since I grew this stuff myself, I'll enjoy it more than store-bought vegetables.

I didn't know that about green beans! I love the taste of onion. I'll try that.

harmonyisarine · Jun 21, 2015

The vineyard got all strung up a few days ago... but it turns out I'm the only one who can do it right. So today I unstrung half of them and adjusted the heights before properly stringing the grapes back on. Afterwards, I finally had a moment to make a new raised garden frame. This one will be for the peppers and tomatoes primarily. I finished it just as yet another nasty rain came in.

I also munched another piece of asparagus and had a few raspberries and peas (I like the ones you have to shell, because I find the peas tend to be sweeter and amazing). The swiss chard will be ready to eat in just a few days, I think!

dirtsider · Jun 23, 2015

blacbird said:
What kind of peas? I grow only snap peas and snow peas, the kinds with edible pods. They are fantastic, and I can't see any reason for growing the ones you have to shell to eat.

caw

I can't remember the type but I think they may be snap peas. They're not the pea pods you see in stir-fry. The pods are edible.

I have more peas to harvest and I still have the batch I harvested over the weekend. I think I'll freeze what I have and bring in the ones I harvest into work for people to share.

I'm seeing a lot of tomatoes but they're still green. We're getting a lot of rain this month (May was really dry, though) so I don't have to water much. I generally don't like fresh tomatoes although I do like tomato sauces. But I plant them because Mom likes them.

Alessandra Kelley · Jun 24, 2015

Aw, ViridianChick, I'm sorry about your peas. Those danged deer!

We don't have a deer problem because we're right in the middle of the city. We do have a bumper crop of rabbits this year. Mostly they seem to be keeping the arugula-gone-wild in check. They're pretty bold. One or two will often sit right next to the driveway nibbling clover and giving us the stinkeye when we pull the car in or out.

Anyhow, this morning I was tending to our small-but-productive prairie garden out front. I dug out a corner of goldenrod that had gotten established last year before I realized it wasn't more new england asters. I also removed some more pestilential undesirables such as violets and some lilies-of-the-valley I hadn't completely exterminated, nightshade and mullein and pokeweed, but keeping the milkweed. Amazingly, the invasives seem to have actually outcompeted the wild bergamot, which usually is the most aggressive plant in the garden after the wild strawberries. Looks like the sage didn't make it through the winter, but the Greek oregano is hanging on, the blueberries are still there (not too productive, though, as they have been somewhat crowded and we have an alkaline soil), and some wild asclepias is already blooming.

Actually it's pretty amazing how much we have going on in our garden given how very small it is.

We have a dwarf sour pie cherry tree with a bumper crop this year. I picked the leading edge ripe cherries, about a pie's worth, but most of them are not going to be fully ripe for a week or so. That's late for us, but we have had a cold, wet late-April-through-now.

The root stock of the tree is trying to branch. I let one branch stay, but I trimmed out the rest, more than I thought, opening a lot more air and circulation under the tree.

blacbird · Jun 24, 2015

dirtsider said:
I can't remember the type but I think they may be snap peas. They're not the pea pods you see in stir-fry. The pods are edible.

If they have fat pods that are edible, they are snap peas, of which there are now a number of varieties. They go wonderfully in stir-fries, as well as do snow peas (the flat-podded things). Peas of all kinds freeze very well, too, so that's a good way to keep them. But fresh, snap peas are fantastic, either cooked or raw in salads or relish trays. 15 years ago my daughter, then in her early teens, would bring over a classmate girlfriend and go into the garden and browse the snap peas for snacks. At first it irritated me, but quickly I realized that, hey, I grow the damn things to be eaten, and what could be better than having a couple of teenagers chowing down on fresh peas instead of twinkies and donuts? At least the mooses didn't get 'em.

caw

harmonyisarine · Jun 25, 2015

My garden is coming quite happily. I'll have swiss chard soon (just planted more), and broccolis have little florets coming up! Harvested the first carrot and planted more, and put in more radish seeds and peas for when the current crop finishes up the run. I still have to get some things in the ground and I know it's getting late, but we've gone from absurdly busy to absurdly wet, too wet to get out to put plants in.

sunandshadow · Jun 25, 2015

ViridianChick said:
The most awful thing just happened. A gardener's nightmare. I went to harvest my snap peas -- I had a bunch, all perfectly sized -- and they're all gone. The pods, the buds, the flowers. I left the garden gate open and a deer got in and ate them all.

The deer also -- very thoughtfully -- trimmed eight inches off my tomato plants.

[quote removed]

I'm definitely going to try. I'm hoping that since I grew this stuff myself, I'll enjoy it more than store-bought vegetables.

I didn't know that about green beans! I love the taste of onion. I'll try that.

I had all my celery get eaten by either a rabbit or a groundhog. Interestingly it has left the potatoes and squashes alone - maybe it thinks those taste bad.

As far as vegetables go, IMO if you don't like the taste of the ones from the grocery store, it's more likely to be a problem with how you are cooking them than with the veggies themselves. With grocery store stuff it's tempting to cook them as simply as possible, but that can lead to very bland dishes, or dishes with a texture you don't like. For example, maybe you would like vegetables cooked in a white wine and mustard sauce better than a more standard preparation. I personally am very fond of vegetable served with nacho cheese sauce. Worchestershire sauce is also very tasty if you like bay leaves, and convenient because you can just dump it on top of vegetables cooked a plain way. And if you like onions, you might try getting some avocados and making your own guacamole. Or maybe make your own french onion dip and dip everything else in it.

shakeysix · Jun 26, 2015

I was at my desk, just now, working on a story when I looked out the window for inspiration. Instead of inspiration, I saw a horse munching on my mail box garden! The damned thing was chomping away on my sweet peas like it was browsing a salad bar and the kid riding it was not stopping it!! The windows was open so I hollered at the kid, then I ran out on my porch and shook my fist. The kid got the reins to working then she and the horse ambled off down the road. I followed still shaking my fist and bitching about my blue sage and sweet peas. I must have looked like Mr. Wilson chasing Dennis the Menace but damn it, sweet peas in western Kansas are damn nigh impossible! --s6

shakeysix · Jun 28, 2015

Okay. Yesterday I went to the bank and the grocery store. I was gone about an hour. When I got back there was a trail of horse apples in front of my house, going all the way around the corner. They weren't in my grass but they were close. Now, this is a dirt road and horse apples do show up from time to time but this, to me, seems like an unusually ample supply. AND there are no apples anywhere but in front of my house. I drove the road to check. My sister says I am paranoid to blame Denise the Menace. She says I am turning cranky in my old age. Maybe Mr. Wilson was a laid back guy until he retired. If horse apples turn up in mailbox I'm calling the sheriff! --s6

blacbird · Jul 18, 2015

Now halfway through the south Alaska growing season, and it's been unusually friendly to us gardenizers. Lots of sunshine, some rain (still have needed to water a bit), and I have the best front flowerbeds I've ever had in 25 years of living here. But, there are some veggies I need to extol the virtues of, which many gardeners elsewhere might not know about. So:

1. Orache. This is a close relative of spinach, but much more forgiving of warm weather. Starts more slowly, but much less inclined to bolt to seed, and the leaves are completely interechangeable with spinach, both raw and cooked. And they are dark red to purple, and the color doesn't go away when they're cooked.

2. Tat soy. Variety of bok choy, grown for leaves rather than stems. Produces a rosette of dark green leaves which go very well in salads or in cooking.

3. Mache. Also known (weirdly) as "corn salad". Slow-growing green that is very tolerant of cold weather. Was a major food source for prospectors int he far north during gold rush days, and is an outstanding salad green. Would be excellent growing in the cold months for southern gardeners.

4. Mizuna. Another excellent green for salads or cooking, ridiculously easy to grow, and fast. Grow a bunch, pick 'em young.

caw

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