Recent content by drivepirate

GardenForums.com a friendly and growing community of gardeners. We feature a Garden Discussion Forum and Garden Photo Gallery. It's a fun and friendly place to talk with other gardeners, ask questions, share you knowledge, view and post photos and more! Whether you're a master gardener, or brand new to the hobby, you'll find something of interest here.



  1. drivepirate

    Update

    I may go with tomato cages if my old trellis doesn't work with the cucumbers. I finally had a couple more squash come up. Do you all use some type of soil probe thermometer to check the soil? What do they co$t?
  2. drivepirate

    Update

    Update time! Well the honeymoon seems to be over with the weather and the garden. In the previous weeks the weather was warm and about 75% of our seeds came up. We reseeded some pole beans and a handful of beets where the first round failed and then the weather went haywire. It dropped to...
  3. drivepirate

    Hot Peppers

    I wanted to share a temporary greenhouse method I used last year for my peppers that worked really well. I put plastic over my pepper starts when I transplanted them last year and left them covered for about 6 weeks to give them a strong start. It was our best year ever for peppers so we did it...
  4. drivepirate

    Update

    This makes me wonder if I should keep them in the 4" pots for another few weeks. They are growing well right now but I worry about them getting too root bound. Also I have the beds prepped and composted but I never bothered to water them. It might be better to water and get things cooking but...
  5. drivepirate

    Update

    Quick post before I head off to work. Last night I dug a new bed on the south side of the house. I am amended the soil with everything I had including lime and horse compost. Then and only then did I look up potato info and I read that your NOT supposed to add lime OR fresh manure. I planted the...
  6. drivepirate

    Now what to do...

    Today was a good day. I started by making a trip to the local feed store. I walked right up the counter and said "I need some gardening advice". The lady at the counter called for an older guy who happens to teach a master composting class. I told him that I need to improve my clay soil and what...
  7. drivepirate

    It happened again...

    Good advice, thank you. Sent from my Kindle Fire using Tapatalk 2
  8. drivepirate

    Now what to do...

    Have you ever been in the garden area and find a deal that you couldn't pass just to get home and realize you just created a lot more work for yourself? Well it happened to me! I found these great looking 4" veggie pots at Bi-mart for $1 each and I went nuts and got all our summer starts. I...
  9. drivepirate

    Cover crop for winter in the Pacific Northwest

    In my quest to bring life back to the heavy clay soil in my garden beds. I plan on planting a "cover crop" to cut down on erosion from all the rain we get up here in the Willamette Valley. I read somewhere about biointensive planting and that you should allways have something planted so that the...
  10. drivepirate

    It happened again...

    Tonight I dug out the seed packets to talk with the wife and decide what seeds to start. Wow! I have about 40 packets of seeds from the last 3 years. I have 4 general types of seeds. 1: Herbs. 2: Hot summer sow indoor (tomato, eggplant, peppers, corn). 3: Cool weather direct sow (lettuce, kale...
  11. drivepirate

    building new planter boxes

    My first boxes were only 8" deep. I followed the square foot gardening book and used good rich soil. The first year was great. Tomatoes, lettuce, green beans all did awesome. The second year wasn't as good. I think if you keep it watered that 15" will be fine.
  12. drivepirate

    Greetings from the Pacific Northwest

    That's great Randy! Gives me hope for ours too! I'm the kind of guy that figures things out the slow/hard way and this gardening thing is no different. I will need to research a larger scale composting system and dedicate some space for it. Maybe then I can move the "green machine" up front and...
  13. drivepirate

    Onions in the Northwest/zone 8a?

    Wife got em in the ground!
  14. drivepirate

    Greetings from the Pacific Northwest

    I tried working the soil a bit tonight. It's still way too clumped. I don't see how I can effectively mix compost with it yet besides breaking it all with my fingers unless..... A tiller would make a difference. My wife prepped a 4' x 4' area by hand and it took her an hour. Might be awhile...
  15. drivepirate

    Onions in the Northwest/zone 8a?

    Has anyone planted Walla Walla onions in the pacific northwest? I picked up a bunch of cut onions from the feed store the other day on a whim and I'm gonna plant em soon. I have 3cu fft of Natures brand compost/soil conditioner. I was gonna just mix 3" in the top and shove these in between our...
See more


Gardenforums.com is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com

Back
Top