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Athena » April 21st, 2017, 9:07 am wrote:Oh yes, gardening is great for gaining an appreciation for farmers.
The mixed lettuce seeds give me plants I can't identify and then I don't know if I am growing lettuce or weeds.
Isn't it great that a sanctuary can be at least partly funded by what the animals produce.
I wish I had a flame thrower to scorch my ground. I have bugs that live in the ground and come out and destroy squash plants. Any idea for that problem?
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http://thefreerangelife.com/control-squash-bugs/
You can also help control squash bugs by planting repellent plants with your squashes. Two of the most commonly used companions for squash is nasturtiums and white icicle radishes. Plant them throughout your squash beds for the best results. Other plants such as oregano, marigold, calendula and dill can also provide some protection.
We try to remember that when stuck on the highway behind a very slow, very ripe fertilizer spreader. In late summer, the harvesters lumber along at a majestic pace. Hay trailers, we stay right away from: I've seen two of those topple over, and the giant bales roll off.
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Athena » April 23rd, 2017, 11:38 am wrote:Laugh, what's not to like is the taste of flowers.
Do you use your dill?
Pot with pockets... Do you think that would work?
Also, swiss chard can stand the heat.
The Brussel sprouts do very well in our winter.
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Athena » April 24th, 2017, 11:19 am wrote: I already planted a yellow tomato because it is lower in acid.
Why not Brussel sprouts, artichoke or broccoli?
Swiss chard may not be the best flavor but it is great when the spinach and lettuce die in the heat.
I wish I had more money. Then I would just call for a truckload of soil and pile it on high.
Any idea for keeping #&((^%%$#@ grass out?!
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Serpent » April 24th, 2017, 6:47 pm wrote: Yellows are good. We also find some of the heritage varieties, like Cherokee purple and Brandywine less acidic than the hybrid reds. I particularly like bananlegs for its hardiness and long season. But the best low acid tomato of all is White Beauty, because it has a dense texture and doesn't run down your arm when noshing in the groves.
(I hate juice on my wrist!)
I don't know. They fail to thrive, and I've never figured out what goes wrong - besides bugs'n'slugs. I've tried starting them from seed and buying them late in spring - no use. Can't grow cabbage, either, but that doesn't bother me. Maybe our soil is inimical to brassicas.
I don't miss the artichoke, but would dearly love to grow broccoli and Brussels. I may try broccolini this year - shorter growing season. It won't have the nice thick stems, though, which are so good, julianned, in coleslaw, stir-fry and won ton.
My fall-back is kale.
Switch-grass, with rhizomes? No, in 30 years I've never won more than a couple of rounds against that devil. Double-dug the herb bed and inserted that corrugated plastic stuff (Restore $2 a roll) all around. Looked good the first season; all grass by the end of the second. Mostly, I pitchfork an pull, rake and pull, hoe and pull, cultivate and pull.... It comes back.
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Athena » May 6th, 2017, 11:52 am wrote:I have never seen White Beauty tomatoes. Where did you get yours?
Trying to figure out the soil thing is a challenge for me. I bought a kit for testing PH and it didn't work well for me. I couldn't figure it out.
Laugh, gardening can remind a person of the story about being thrown out of the Garden of Eden.
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vivian maxine » May 6th, 2017, 12:27 pm wrote:Trees with nests if the new owners of this property will stop cutting them down. :-(
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vivian maxine » May 6th, 2017, 12:57 pm wrote:Serpent, not these people. They just laugh and go on about their business. I won't even start to give you some of the silly reasons they give for cutting them down. You wouldn't believe it. Just one: Along the front of the property, is a highway. Not a huge highway - four lanes and busy. We had a beautiful stand of trees there. One was dead but the others were fine. Tall and stately. They had to come down so drivers will see the complex and know we have apartments for rent. I almost told them about autopilot driving but thought best to keep my mouth shut. Some people you can talk to; some you cannot. Best to learn which early in life?
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vivian maxine » May 6th, 2017, 12:48 pm wrote:Athena, many of your garden shops - the truly professional ones who know their business - will test a sample of your soil for you. Also those who sell trees. They are very fussy about where they put their trees. And my father used to get his soil tested at a farmers' group whose name I've long since forgotten. All small towns (farming communiteis, that is) had them. Maybe someone here knows. I only remember that it was three initials. Or, think it was. They sell feed, sometimes branch out to farm supplies, sell chicks in springtime. Just some of the things they do. Try a farming community.
Thinking further, do you have an agricultural college nearby? I don't know that they do such but no harm in asking.
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Serpent » May 6th, 2017, 12:22 pm wrote:Athena » May 6th, 2017, 11:52 am wrote:I have never seen White Beauty tomatoes. Where did you get yours?
We mail-order most of our seeds from Vesey's https://veseys.com/ca/en/store/vegetables/tomato?utm_source=bing&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=BSE%20-%20CA%20-%20Generic%20-%20Vegetable%20Seeds&utm_term=%2Btomato%20%2Bseeds&utm_content=BSEGVS%20-%20Tomato%20Seeds
But there are plenty of American nurseries that carry it. Too late for seed this year, of course. Bedding plants are sometimes available at the more comprehensive greenhouses, or maybe farmer's markets at the end of May.Trying to figure out the soil thing is a challenge for me. I bought a kit for testing PH and it didn't work well for me. I couldn't figure it out.
Pink is for boys, blue is for girls... or... ? Most plants do okay in the yellow-green range; hydrangeas actually reflect the litmus test in their blooms. When you buy seeds or seedlings, the instructions may say whether they like acid or alkaline soil, but don't show you the ideal pH colour.
Rodale may help with that, too, and how to correct the soil acidity.
But there are so many other factors: nutrients, drainage, sand-to-humus ratio, hard or soft pack, minerals, soil flora, temperature, and so on. I'm just guessing most of the time: if it looks and smells good to me, I expect the plants to like it.
PS legumes bind nitrogen. I always plant beans, peas or soy in depleted soil, mulch and dig in the green parts after harvesting.Laugh, gardening can remind a person of the story about being thrown out of the Garden of Eden.
... cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life;
18 Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field;
19 In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground
And yet, those of us who live or have lived in cities, where bread and herbs came wrapped in cellophane, yearned for the sun and rain on on our heads, the dirt on our hands, the black-fly bites and piles of composting weed... Hoomons! (as Quark would say)
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Athena » June 29th, 2017, 11:49 am wrote:Yes, I have been worried about the lack of pollinators. I saw some big bumble bees on my asparagus and I thanked them for being there.
I think the peppers and tomatoes will do better when we have consistent hot weather? It is a little nerve-wracking isn't it? Right now those plants seem to be undeveloped.
My bush beans are doing fine. What happened to yours? What chewed them up? I was afraid the slugs would ruin everything, but following the heat wave we had, the slugs seem to be gone.
I covered the unused plot next to mine with cardboard and that will probably become a big slug breeding ground.
I would hate to have money in the produce stock market.
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Athena » June 30th, 2017, 11:46 am wrote: Between the bugs and weather, it is hard to imagine a loving God is taken care of us, and easy to imagine mother nature is experiencing menopause and in a bad mood most the time.
You aren't doing so many flowers and have fewer pollenators? Is there a possible connection? Have you thought of having a bee hive?
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Watson » June 30th, 2017, 3:47 pm wrote: We also have a wild rose variety growing in the ditches that I'm trying to grow in the yard but the specimens wilted look quite sad. I'm hoping it will regenerate. If not I'll have to bring more of the roots, next time.
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