Gardening for Old Folks (Adaptative)

[jvls1942]

yup, now that the tractor has his hydraulic overhaul, I am going in on Sept 24 to have my first hip replaced. the second replacement should take place about six weeks later..
then we both should be good for another fifteen years. I hope..
....jiminwisc......

 

[bruceha2000]

I guess you did things in the proper order as I suspect you would have been able to repair the tractor until your replacements have had time to heal.

 

[jvls1942]

right you are. today I got the radiator back on.
Nephew helped me put the 4 pins onto the bucket. I took Ollie to the rotted wood chip pile and rolled them over real good. Ollie worked very well..
tomorrow we have a large load of granite being delivered to fill in the dips and pot holes in the driveway.. Ollie will earn his keep leveling it all off..
the late planted Roma tomatoes are ripening..
.....jiminwisc.......

 

[bruceha2000]

Do you have the Romas covered for frost protection? Sure would be a shame to lose them now.

 

[claudiabostic]

Hi, folks! I just found this thread and I figure I should fit in, I just turned 69 and I'm finding it harder to bend over and reach the ground every year. I'm building some seriously raised beds (about 3 feet tall). I've been gardening organically for almost 50 years and I'm not about to give it up.

What do you folks use to get rid of horn worms? Aside from picking them off the plants.

I do the same thing for hornworms that I do for all the insects: I plant flowers that support predator insects, and I don't use pesticides AT ALL, not even the organic ones. It's hell in a new garden, but after a couple of years the number of harmful bugs goes way down. This year I have not seen one hornworm in my 3 year old garden, but I've seen a number of them in my garden that's new this year. Last year almost every hornworm I saw had little white things almost like rice kernels sticking up all over it. These are the eggs of parasitic wasps. If you see this, let the hornworm keep eating. Before it becomes an adult it will die and release a bunch of adult parasitic wasps. These tiny wasps are completely harmless except to hornworms and some other worms. This summer in my new garden the squash bugs killed all my squashes. In the old garden I didn't see any squash bug damage. And all I have to do is plant some pretty flowers, and most of them are perennials or self sowing annuals so after a year or two I need to do very little. Sunflowers are about the only ones I HAVE to plant every year because the birds eat all the seeds.

 

[R2elk]

Hi, folks! I just found this thread and I figure I should fit in, I just turned 69 and I'm finding it harder to bend over and reach the ground every year. I'm building some seriously raised beds (about 3 feet tall). I've been gardening organically for almost 50 years and I'm not about to give it up.

I do the same thing for hornworms that I do for all the insects: I plant flowers that support predator insects, and I don't use pesticides AT ALL, not even the organic ones. It's hell in a new garden, but after a couple of years the number of harmful bugs goes way down. This year I have not seen one hornworm in my 3 year old garden, but I've seen a number of them in my garden that's new this year. Last year almost every hornworm I saw had little white things almost like rice kernels sticking up all over it. These are the eggs of parasitic wasps. If you see this, let the hornworm keep eating. Before it becomes an adult it will die and release a bunch of adult parasitic wasps. These tiny wasps are completely harmless except to hornworms and some other worms. This summer in my new garden the squash bugs killed all my squashes. In the old garden I didn't see any squash bug damage. And all I have to do is plant some pretty flowers, and most of them are perennials or self sowing annuals so after a year or two I need to do very little. Sunflowers are about the only ones I HAVE to plant every year because the birds eat all the seeds.

Welcome to the thread.

 

[jvls1942]

two days last week we were threatened with frost. we did not cover anything because we are not in a low lying area. nothing froze. from now until at least a week from now the temps are not supposed to get below 50F at night. lots of sun, no rain until next Sunday. I figure we will get plenty of ripe Romas by then.
Wyo. No DD did not help at all with my tomatoes.. She has over 100 of her own plants to care for. .
yesterday I picked the remaining peppers from the four plants. got 8 . I tossed the dirt w/plants into the cement mixer. knocked off all the dirt from the roots.. Picked out any weeds that showed up. awesome roots on the plants. I just pulled the plant out of the bucket and all of the dirt came with it. not a speck left in the bucket. these were 3 gallon buckets. next year I will use 5 gallon buckets.
.jiminwisc.....

 

[claudiabostic]

My tomatoes are looking great- have already picked a bunch. More ready to go. My watermelon is doing nicely- can't wait to bite into that thing. However, my squash sucked up and died on my - why? I water, but try not to overwater, the dirt was fertilized all fall and winter with chicken poop and then left to age before planting. Back in July, they looked great. No visible animals around, so what is going on? This is the first time I have seen this - did they just die a natural death? It is too early for that, right?

Did you see some gray teardrop shaped bugs on the plants? Those are squash bugs and the squash in my new garden looked like that this year after they got going on them.

 

[oldhen2345]

Did you see some gray teardrop shaped bugs on the plants? Those are squash bugs and the squash in my new garden looked like that this year after they got going on them.

Yeah, squash bugs. I should have let the chickens out into the garden, but didn't. What kind of perreinials do you plant to keep them down? I do intersperse marigolds among the tomatoes.

 

[jvls1942]

got 18 yards of granite today. 1 1/2 hours later, all the water holes in the driveway are filled in and the whole driveway is graded smooth. the driveway is about 300 feet long.
I had about 5 yards dumped on a pile for touch up later on. a couple of the water holes were deep and got kind of muddy with the new granite in them. As they dry up, I will add granite from the stock pile,.
Old Ollie worked like a champ.
......jiminwisc.........