((Serious Gardening))

[Batty about Banties]

I am a total novice when it comes to gardening, I actually killed everything I tried up until a couple years ago. Anywho, I planted some potatoes and was wondering how you know when to dig them up?

 

[Kassaundra]

This is my first year to grow potatoes, I am supose to wait until the tops die back to harvest the potatoes right? My tops are still green and growing. I have 4 tires that are 3 tires high.

 

[featherbaby]

Well, N. Florida is hotter than the third circle of Hell right now. It's in the 90's in the daytime and only cools to high 70's at night. Sure is early in the season to be this hot. My poor 'furry' silkies are panting, oh my! They look at me as if to say, "Gee, I wish I could take my feathers off like she does...." I just got waterlilies for my pond and I'm going to pot and set them in it tomorrow. Even though the water looks like 'cream of primordial soup' at least I'll be cool from the waist down while I'm working in there. My EX-husband used to call me the "Creature from the black lagoon" and "the slime queen" when I'd get in to work on the pump or lilies. (Notice, he's not here anymore, muuuooooohhhhhhaaaa). I have the most breathtaking lilies when in bloom. Some 8" across, (bright pink/purple/yellow/blue and peach) and heavenly fragrant! I have several large bullfrogs who sing bass in accompaniment to the soprano tree frog chorus every night. Just another day in paradise.

Anyone want to join me for a mint julep on the deck this evening?

 

[NanaKat]

Quote:
In round plants will begin to yellow when the potatoes are redy. Alolw the ground to dry out when that happens because dry dug potatoes cure and store longer than those dug from moist soil.
We plant in March and usually are harvesting in July/Aug depending on how hot the summer has been.

Fall potatoes can go in aound the time onions come out of the ground...late May early June.

Kassaundra, not sure about your tire bed for potatoes. But when the plants begin to yellow, the potatoes are storing energy.

 

[Sore Thumb Suburbanite]

Quote:
I'm green with envy... I am planning my pond installation this summer, I am soooooo interested in having some lilies in there-can you take pictures of your pond and post them...? since its water gardening...its still gardening. DO you let ducks use your pond at all? I'm considering letting my ducks take a weekly swim in my future pond. I also will have a few small fish and I definately want some bull frogs---so my neighbors become even more confused as to what goes on in my backyard!

AND YESSSS! I want to join you for a mint julep...but maybe just in spirit, I'm too far away.

 

[featherbaby]

Hey Sorethumb, I'd be happy to share some info with you. My pond is not big, only about 2500 gal. It's about 15 ft by 22 ft. but odd shaped, about 3 ft. deep in the middle. I have had it almost 20 years and have tried various things. Some worked, some not. It's a vinyl liner with flat rocks mortared around the edge. I have an exterior biological filter with a pump on the deck that runs it. It's not crystal clear, and I wish it was, but I've never been able to achieve that. Oh well. Frogs are good as long as you can put up with millions of tadpoles at some point. I would not recommend ducks, however. They are very messy and defecate in it a lot. That will fertilize the algae big time and make it almost impossible to control. They also eat the foliage off any water plants. If you're doing an "earth bottom" the rules change some. So let me know if you're going with a liner or earth bottom.

If you want fish that can be good but there are some restrictions there too. If you want water lilies, you can't have koi because they eat the new leaf sprouts before they can ever reach the surface which kills the lilies. If you want regular goldfish, that's OK with lilies. If you have ospreys, eagles or other raptors, you're going to lose some fish, even with lily pad coverage. I recommend getting the best lilies from Texas Water Lilies .com They run anywhere from $13-$35 each. shipped bare root in individual ziplocks to keep in moisture, and the quality is very good (quick ship too). Most companies charge a lot more.

The pump, filter and water chemistry is critically important. You have to 'seed' it with beneficial bacteria to get it started. I re seed mine every spring just to make sure I have sufficient colonies to balance the decay rate and keep algae manageable. PM me for info on chemical suppliers, etc. if you wish. Get a good book on water gardening/pond construction or research it on Google. The more you know, the fewer expensive mistakes you make later.

This is overlooking the pond from my deck (before the lilies were put in).

 

[Smittenroade]

Quote:
OMG

lol that is BEAUTIFUL!

We are getting some tomatos already ^___^ yum yum yum! keep em coming ma nature!

 

[Kassaundra]

I have some pics of my garden and system, it is still rough right now, not very pretty we have been concentrating on getting it in and up haven't had the time to paint and make it look nice. We have planted almost everything late so most plants aren't nearly as big as they should be for our area. This is the first year of the new system and the area that is planted.

This is the unexpected fence we had to put up to protect the chickens from my wiener dog. Planted it in adzuki beans.

Here is a close up of the adzuki's, they are supose to be warm weather lovers, but they look an aweful lot like a pea to me, and they seem to be doing better in the more shaded locations, so we'll see.

This is a chicken run/garden spot after the girls have occupied it for 3 weeks, they will leave this bed/run this week and I will plant it out.

This is the new run/bed they will enter (actually they did today) to make it ready to plant in 3 weeks or so.

this is the corn/lentil bed. The lentils will provide a living mulch and fix nitrogen.

each garden system will be surrounded by these tires, in front of the tires will be strawberries (already planted just not up yet) and blueberries.

This is an over view of the system. There are 2 systems in the pic the one closest to the camera, on the far left where the chickens are is the new bed they were just moved to, so they can prepare it, in the center is a bed planted in cukes and peppers, and the right side is the bed they already made ready and I will plant out this week.

Loaded pear tree

I planted the tomatoes and left the grass to act as a shade and living mulch. This is new to me, but my FIL swears by it.

That is a quick overview of the garden.

I am also working on an experiment w/ water garden raised veggies. I am aquiring the little bit of suppllies I need when I have it together I will expain it w/ pics.

 

[Smittenroade]

Good God almighty Kassaundra, that is a complete and utter inspiration of production and creativity! That gives me soooooo many good ideas. Thank you very much! Do your chickens not fly over their fence? Because I have 1 pen without a top and mine always just fly right over. However, I do have 2 of the flightiest birds out there...I just resort to putting meaties in there now.

 

[Kassaundra]

Most do not. One used to regularly, she got eaten by my wiener dog

Several months later one other went over, but I think she was startled over, she met the same fate

So we put up an additional fence between the garden/run and the dogs area, so know if one is startled over (which hasn't happened again) we can put her back w/o the dogs getting them. The front (facing out) portion of the fence is the most critical for escape w/ injury b/c if they escape to the side, they are just in a different enclosed garden area, so we put an additional couple of feet higher of bird netting.


My chickens are all EE's, what kind do you have? I have heard you will have less issues w/ unwanted flight if you choose a bigger bodied chicken.