Gardening for Old Folks (Adaptative)

[R2elk]

I was just going by what the article said...I've never heard of mouse melon or ground cherries.

I was just pointing out that you should not believe everything that you read.

I have proof that you have heard of mouse melons before.

#934

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

I was just going by what the article said...I've never heard of mouse melon or ground cherries.

Ground cherries. They are nothing like a cherry. False advertising.

 

[N F C]

I was just pointing out that you should not believe everything that you read.

I have proof that you have heard of mouse melons before.

#934

Ok Bob, I forgot. No big deal.

 

[R2elk]

Ground cherries. They are nothing like a cherry. False advertising.

The same applies to vine peaches.

 

[R2elk]

Ok Bob, I forgot. No big deal.

That's why I tend to say that I don't remember.

 

[Searsmom]

Following...still reading, only on p18

 

[sharron]

Neither mouse melon or ground cherry are new.

My opinion is that mouse melon is not worth the effort as I grew them a couple of years ago.

don't know about the ground cherries but the mouse melon(i bought as cucamelon, a mini cucumber, boy did they produce for me, i tried to like them since they were quite abundant and i tried and tried to liked them but just couldn't. some people that i gave them to liked them alot, husband even liked them but i won't be planting them again, waste of space in my opinion

 

[microchick]

Good morning everyone. Well spring has finally arrived to north central MO. With spring thoughts turn to two things for most BYC addicts, chicks and gardens.

This spring has seen two big changes in my life. 1) I'm another year older with 66 breathing down my neck. And 2), Last fall I was diagnosed with several inflammatory arthritis conditions and started giving myself weekly shots. I refuse to give into my body tho and age gracefully so onward with garden plans the differences being that I'm sticking with plans not to overdo it too much and restrict what I plant to what we really enjoy eating.

I'm also letting my chickens do part of the work for me. Our soil here is to put it bluntly, crap. Our house is on the center ridge of a three ridge area and ridge soil here is notoriously poor quality. Preparing the garden is a chore, throwing out clumps of weedy grass as DH runs the garden disc over it. This year I decided to make it easy. I moved the chicken run panels around rearranging things so that I now have a 10X24 foot plus area that has been cleaned, cleared and fertilized by my birds. All we have to do is till it and it is good to go.

My plans this year is to grow a long row of potatoes, a long row of onions or two and then fill in with a few pole beans and some squash.

I am trying something different this year. I bought a package of 'On Deck' Sweet Corn which is reported to be good for container growing and produce 5 inch ears of corn. The only problem I have heard about it is that you have to hand pollinate it. No big deal. I was raised and live in the heart of corn country so I'm good with that.

But since bending and kneeling for a long time is hard on me, I am planning to do as much container planting as possible.

Questions: Has anybody tried the On Deck sweet corn from Burpees? Has anybody container planted pole beans? And has anybody container planted squash and what were the results?

Meanwhile while I wait for the ground temps to rise, I have summer squash, Butternut squash, tomato plants (only 2) dill, basil and echinacea started and thriving under my grow lights. I also collected peach pits that the deer left me last year when they raided my orchard and ate every one of my peaches, wintered them in the fridge and shelled them this spring. I wasn't sure if it would work but I sealed them in wet paper towels, slid the 'hearts' into glad bags and set them in a sunny window. I'll try to get pics of the results later but I have at last count 6 baby heritage peach trees growing under my lights.

These peaches are small, about the size of large apricots and the meat is meally but sweet and they make great jam!

So in a nutshell, yes, I am adaptive gardening this year!

 

[sharron]

Good morning everyone. Well spring has finally arrived to north central MO. With spring thoughts turn to two things for most BYC addicts, chicks and gardens.

This spring has seen two big changes in my life. 1) I'm another year older with 66 breathing down my neck. And 2), Last fall I was diagnosed with several inflammatory arthritis conditions and started giving myself weekly shots. I refuse to give into my body tho and age gracefully so onward with garden plans the differences being that I'm sticking with plans not to overdo it too much and restrict what I plant to what we really enjoy eating.

I'm also letting my chickens do part of the work for me. Our soil here is to put it bluntly, crap. Our house is on the center ridge of a three ridge area and ridge soil here is notoriously poor quality. Preparing the garden is a chore, throwing out clumps of weedy grass as DH runs the garden disc over it. This year I decided to make it easy. I moved the chicken run panels around rearranging things so that I now have a 10X24 foot plus area that has been cleaned, cleared and fertilized by my birds. All we have to do is till it and it is good to go.

My plans this year is to grow a long row of potatoes, a long row of onions or two and then fill in with a few pole beans and some squash.

I am trying something different this year. I bought a package of 'On Deck' Sweet Corn which is reported to be good for container growing and produce 5 inch ears of corn. The only problem I have heard about it is that you have to hand pollinate it. No big deal. I was raised and live in the heart of corn country so I'm good with that.

But since bending and kneeling for a long time is hard on me, I am planning to do as much container planting as possible.

Questions: Has anybody tried the On Deck sweet corn from Burpees? Has anybody container planted pole beans? And has anybody container planted squash and what were the results?

Meanwhile while I wait for the ground temps to rise, I have summer squash, Butternut squash, tomato plants (only 2) dill, basil and echinacea started and thriving under my grow lights. I also collected peach pits that the deer left me last year when they raided my orchard and ate every one of my peaches, wintered them in the fridge and shelled them this spring. I wasn't sure if it would work but I sealed them in wet paper towels, slid the 'hearts' into glad bags and set them in a sunny window. I'll try to get pics of the results later but I have at last count 6 baby heritage peach trees growing under my lights.

These peaches are small, about the size of large apricots and the meat is meally but sweet and they make great jam!

So in a nutshell, yes, I am adaptive gardening this year!

i love this, never say die as the saying goes, i will be starting alot in my green house after the 8th of next month, i have started lettuce and container tomato's down here in the panhandle of fl, those will go back with me to plant in the garden, i have help, my husband does the tilling for me and also hoes the rows for me, i can still bend over thank goodness to get the seeds into the ground
if you need some container tomato seeds, send me a mail and i can tell you what seeds i have
that goes for anyone else who would like to try some too, i went crazy and bought four or five different varieties of tomato's, some yellows, reds and one called isis candy and as long as i have the seeds, i will share for a sase

 

[microchick]

Thanks @sharron. I'd take you up on that but unfortunately, I have three young tomato plants thriving under my LED grow lights that my husband set up for me in our hobby room. Maybe next spring I'll try them. The yellows sound delicious. I grew two plants last year in chicken fertilized soil and they did fantastic. Big strong plants and ample fruit that I share with the chickens.

Has anybody tried LED lights for growing seedlings? I can tell you truthfully that I will never buy a grow light again. The plants love this light and I am using regular clear and full spectrum purple LEDs.

My husband helps me also and as long as I kneel I do pretty good although getting up from a kneel is kinda tough (chain link chicken run panels to hang onto helps). Hoeing bothers my neck so getting up close and personal with the weedies.