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.
Quote:
John,
Our fall winter gardening is always the best too. We have a lot less pest issues from about Oct - March.
Nancie that's when my pests start and end lol I prefer Autumn and Winter gardening too, but everything just leaps out of the ground in Summer with hardly any effort, apart of course, from chasing insects away
I'm with Ron, not on your life would I bite the head off a bad bug. If I do manage to catch them I usually give them to the Golden Orb spiders for snacks.
Since I decided to make my veggie garden larger.....I'll be getting out a tarp to cover the lawn to start the process of solarizing the area.
I'll first use the mower on it's lowest height setting to cut the grass short then throw the tarp over the area!
With the heat and blazing sun the area should be nicely cooked in a few weeks! Then I can turn the dead sod over!
All I will do now is dig one row on the south side to plant my Buffaloo Currant bushes! I have 7 of them to get into the ground! They should make a good windbreak and the currants are great for jam!
They are a native currant from the midwest and prairies. They are extremely drought tolarent...which is a bonus..and are hardier then the red and black currants!
One of my friends from years past told me that currant bushes came in handy in the case of extended power outages. LOL
As far as biting off the heads of the bugs, I am sure it was a scare tactic to insure the kids were not too casual in their efforts to locate all the pests. It made a good story though and to a little kid, you aren't always quite sure if grampa is serious or not.
Ok ...Should I admit I have bitten bugs?!?! I have even eaten them whole
Ok ...You know how sometimes you just miss one in the lettuce and the worst was last week. Tim had picked wild blackberries for us and he "cleaned" them and put them in sugar water in the fridge. He made me a bowl of ice cream and we topped it with the fresh berries. (I don't wear my glasses all the time at home)Well ....... I thought to myself he didn't do such a good job of picking because there were several of the "hard crunchy" berries. You know the ones that are just a little too dry. I wasn't going to say anything because he work hard in the heat finding and picking them. Especially in light of his current health. Well about the time the thought crosses my mind he jumps up and starts spitting and spuddering. LOL! I say what's wrong. He says" I guess there are bugs in the berries. I just got a mouth full" hmmmm so I guess those weren't dry crunchy berries after all.
I've got a ?
Should I wait until after the heat wave we're suppose to have Wed-Fri in the 90's to plant my veggie garden? I had thought about doing it later today but then I thought maybe I should wait
Ron I love currant jam, but it's too hot and humid too grow them at my place unfortunately
Wow Nancie just think of all the yummy extra protein you had with berries and ice cream!
I once found a tiny frog about the size of my thumbnail on a pawpaw I'd picked from my tree as I was cutting it up. Luckily I got to him before my knife did!
At the moment I have 2 beds with green mustard growing in them. It's a great fumigant and also a wonderful green manure.
Wombat, could you explain more about green mustard? Does it just come back and come back so you don't have to replant it? How's your 'winter' weather going? Curbie
My toms have flowers buds developing nicely. The plants grew another 6 inches since I planted them last weekend, and are now over a foot tall! They love this heat wave!
Yesterday I got the tarp out that I'll be using to solarize the new addition to the veggie garden.....I used the mower on its lowest height setting and shaved the lawn area before putting the tarp down.
I'm using my potted trees to hold the edges of the tarp down from the winds we get.
I won't be rushing to get the area ready for planting since I'll leave the tarp down until the end of September. Then I will till the area to get it ready for next year!
I really do not want to overdo it when summer finally settles in, so will wait!
The longer the tarp stays in place the more weed seeds will be killed! Which will make it easier, weed-wise, next year! I thought I had a larger tarp but could't find it, so used the one I used to solarize the top garden a couple of years ago.
We are expecting cooler temps this weekend so I'll tackle digging a bed to the south of the new addition for the currants. These guys grow 4 to 5ft tall and about the same in width so They will need room. I'll leave a 3ft strip of lawn between them and the tarped area!
Funny, once I get started I have to adjust things to make them fit into the mental image I have in my head!
The row for the currants will be around 2 1/2ft wide and around 20ft long, running east/west. I'll install black plastic edging to help keep the grass out of the area!
The soil in this area is clay so some ammendment will be needed!
They will provide a nice windbreak for the veggie gardens in the spring/early summer, as well as a snow fence during the winter....if and when we get snow!
They should be very colorful in the fall since the foliage turns red and orange!!!!!
I grew the currant bushes Ribes aureum from seed (purchased from GardensNorth.com) 3 years ago and are around 16"s high. I was waiting for them to grow before deciding on where to plant them.....now the work is on to do it!
Wombat, could you explain more about green mustard? Does it just come back and come back so you don't have to replant it? How's your 'winter' weather going? Curbie
Young Curbie I plant the mustard seeds in one bed as a green manure each year, during winter. The following year I plant fenugreek or oats for the same reason as they all have a different affect on the soil. I'm sure that the mustard would self seed if it was left to it's own devices though. I normally dig it into the soil when it reaches about 2-3 inches high. There's a few different varieties of mustard greens and they make a yummy addition to a salad and are very easy to grow.
My 'winter' weather is progressing nicely thank you. It's a bit cool for me of course but it gives me a chance to get things ready for early Spring and also to try a few different types of veggies and flowers that I can't normally grow during the warmer months of the year. Hopefully we won't get a frost this year as a lot of my tropical plants can be badly affected.
Nancie I've never grown luffas although I seem to have the right climate from what I've read. Are they easy to grow and does too much rain affect them?
Ron you're a busy fella I got tired just reading all of that! Hope it all goes to plan for you.
John
I got tired just typing up what needs doing! The veggie garden is just too small and doesn't meet our needs.
I'll eventually get most of the things done.
I just need to get started!
At least I wont need to rush to expand the veggie garden, solarizing takes time which will save me time later on. It is a great way to kill the perennial grass and weed seeds in the soil!
I don't know what this is:fenugreek . I don't know what a luffa is either. Somehow, I got lost I don't even know what we're talking about...... Curbster
Nancie I've never grown luffas although I seem to have the right climate from what I've read. Are they easy to grow and does too much rain affect them?
Ron you're a busy fella I got tired just reading all of that! Hope it all goes to plan for you.
Yes John, they are very easy to grow. Much like cucumbers, but very few pest. They seem to like the water but do not want wet feet. They do love to climb though. I will post a picture on Monday of mine. I built a 10' tall teepee type trellis and they have climed that and are on their way back down. I will try to train them to go back up again.
Ron,I'm with you, that wore me out reading it. Although I envy the amount of time you are able to spend gardening.
Curbie
Fenugreek Is an herb that is used for spice as well as has medicinal uses. You don't hear of it being used much here unless you know someone who uses a lot of herbs in cooking like maybe spiced Indian dishes. I do know you can find the plants at some garden centers.
Luffas are a fruit that grows on a vine like a cucumber. It kind of looks like one when the fruits are young. You can eat them before they beging to get too big, however the most common use is for bath sponges! Yes that right, if you leave them to dry on the vine they become a natural sponge. I will make sure to send you one when they are ready. They can be very expensive in stores. Mine I do not bleach all pretty white , you get the natural tan color with mine
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
