BYC gardening thread!!

[dan26552]

Citrus seedlings

 

[hippiestink]

Well following my Great Uncle Marion's advice I tilled in the snow into the ground to trap nitrogen. Since I was doing it by hand (shovel) I only got some small sections done but it is a start. It was warm today for the second day in a row and all but a few patches of snow in the shade were left. I was double digging and adding woodchips in the bottom and then layer of dirt more woodchips and layer of dirt and then shavings from my chicken pen. I am going to have to set up my dirt screener again because a third of this dirt is gravel and rock. You ever hear of soil called hard scrabble? Well this is it. When I get it back level I will put good topsoil on top of it an raise the bed. The deep bed conditioning is to encourage worms to come in and hang out. These are the beds right by the house on the west side. I am planning to put in sunflowers along the bedroom wall and vineing plants along the covered porch to block the afternoon hot sun. I was thinking of starting some scarlet runner beans for the early season and maybe Maypops or a luffah gourd with some morning glories. I have two spiral garden beds (with a plan to make a third) that I was thinking of growing amaranth in. I found out that melons can take growing near black walnuts so the area of full sun on the edge of the walnut canopy is going to have melons.

I am going to grow some corn but mainly just for the beans to climb on. So maybe some kind of sweet corn that will make a couple of wonderful meals of corn on the cob. And I will be adding the third sister with squash. I am going to cover some areas that I won't have time to prepare fully with crimson clover and let that grow cut off of it to feed chickens and treats to the sheep and then turn it under in the fall.

Gotta go look up that garden planner now.

If you want a good sweet corn variety try Golden Bantam. It's become a staple in my garden. It gives grocery store-size ears of naturally sweet corn and it's an heirloom variety. Once I get a larger yard I want to grow more Golden Bantam and a meal corn variety called Aztec Black.

From the OFA Garden Planner:



Three Sisters in the left bottom corner. Unfortunately the planner doesn't really illustrate it that well. The peas will be on a tomato-cage like structure.I've successfully grown Thai chilies so I think with love and preparation I can get other peppers going. All of these will be raised beds, it's clearing out the weeds that are already growing that'll be the issue. Husband wants to put down weed screen and plant in that because he's lazy and doesn't want to help build raised beds, the wuss. ;P

 

[volschicken]

I love to garden I will be ordering seeds probably by next week and starting them in trays inside...I love drying out my red Cayenne peppers and making crushed red pepper!

 

[Stacykins]

If you want a good sweet corn variety try Golden Bantam. It's become a staple in my garden. It gives grocery store-size ears of naturally sweet corn and it's an heirloom variety. Once I get a larger yard I want to grow more Golden Bantam and a meal corn variety called Aztec Black.

From the OFA Garden Planner:



Three Sisters in the left bottom corner. Unfortunately the planner doesn't really illustrate it that well. The peas will be on a tomato-cage like structure.I've successfully grown Thai chilies so I think with love and preparation I can get other peppers going. All of these will be raised beds, it's clearing out the weeds that are already growing that'll be the issue. Husband wants to put down weed screen and plant in that because he's lazy and doesn't want to help build raised beds, the wuss. ;P

What variety of squash will you use for your three sisters? There are a dizzying number of squash out there, each with their own pros and cons! I am trying a couple of new varieties this year. The Upper Ground Sweet potato (C. moschata), the Lower Salmon River (C. maxima), and the Mandan squash (C. pepo). I'm a bit nuts for squash, hah, I love it. Each will have several hand pollinated fruits to ensure I can collect pure seeds, in case I add in any other squash that could cross pollinate.

 

[hippiestink]

What variety of squash will you use for your three sisters? There are a dizzying number of squash out there, each with their own pros and cons! I am trying a couple of new varieties this year. The Upper Ground Sweet potato (C. moschata), the Lower Salmon River (C. maxima), and the Mandan squash (C. pepo). I'm a bit nuts for squash, hah, I love it. Each will have several hand pollinated fruits to ensure I can collect pure seeds, in case I add in any other squash that could cross pollinate.

I picked Jack o' Lantern pumpkins. Heirloom variety, good for both carving and eating. There's not a good pumpkin variety here for anything except soup so I want to introduce it here.

 

[MeepBeep]

OK I have to guess someone else has done this but it's new to me...

With gardening season creeping up, I have started to plant some indoor herbs and sorts and as usual I find it difficult to water the the small starter trays or even small plants without disturbing the soil, knocking the plant over or floating the seeds to the corners of the trays... Most every watering bottle I have used is like a hurricane downpour, and I'm not fond of spray bottles for the purpose...

So the other day on a whim I grabbed one of the kids 'sippy' cups, I didn't install the 'airlock' anti-leak valve so it will stream out and presto a micro sized water bottle... If your sippy doesn't have a valve you might need to drill a small hole in the lid opposite the spout to get it to stream out...

Anyway I no longer dread watering the plants, it's easy and precise...

 

[dan26552]

OK I have to guess someone else has done this but it's new to me...

With gardening season creeping up, I have started to plant some indoor herbs and sorts and as usual I find it difficult to water the the small starter trays or even small plants without disturbing the soil, knocking the plant over or floating the seeds to the corners of the trays... Most every watering bottle I have used is like a hurricane downpour, and I'm not fond of spray bottles for the purpose...

So the other day on a whim I grabbed one of the kids 'sippy' cups, I didn't install the 'airlock' anti-leak valve so it will stream out and presto a micro sized water bottle... If your sippy doesn't have a valve you might need to drill a small hole in the lid opposite the spout to get it to stream out...

Anyway I no longer dread watering the plants, it's easy and precise...

Interesting...

 

[hippiestink]

Went out and bought supplies. Got a grow box and some pulp seed pots, started some sage and the Romanian Red garlic. It's probably my favorite garlic ever, it grows fantastically in our climate and is prolific. HUGE cloves too!

 

[dan26552]

I got some trees the other day

 

[lazy gardener]

I got some trees the other day

What kind? I do hope you have lots of land available. You're gonna need it!