What did you do in the garden today?

[chickengr]

Good morning gardeners. Nothing happening in the garden today. We're getting a little bit of an ice storm. Hopefully it won't last and the temps get above freezing this afternoon. I grew San Marzano tomatoes last year and they did pretty well. It was a difficult gardening season here but those SM's did not get blight or blossom end rot. I add oyster shell to the garden beds that will be used for tomatoes in the fall and let it work over the winter and it worked well the first year. I did the same a few months ago and hope that will work again. I would never use raw eggs in the garden. I'm sure that would be like posting a "free meal" sign for all the woodland critters around here. That and the smell might annoy me and the neighbors. I'm getting more seed catalogs in the mail. The one I got yesterday is Johnny's Seed out of Maine. Ferry-Morse did not send a catalog but I did get an email that they were available online. I'll look at them when I get a chance. I like Burpee but have not had good luck with their seeds and live plants. As for their CS, sadly that seems to be more the norm these days for many businesses. I'm going to try leeks again this year. I plan on starting them early and see how that goes. I'm also considering buying some cold caps and direct sowing most of the other vegetables. I do have the hoops and plastic to cover one of the beds. That may likely be used for the kale and lettuce bed. I could also invest in some more hoops for one or two more covered beds. We'll see.

I bury old eggs or unhatched eggs about 10 in deep. never had any issue and my tomatoes loved them. mice/rats never found them. after burying them I always water than put some limestone on top. maybe that helps.

 

[chickengr]

Gypsum and garden Lime are both used to add calcium. The gypsum will not change the soil pH, whereas Lime can change the pH (it raises the pH). Adding oyster shells or egg shells also can add calcium, but not until they get broken down and dissolved -so it is a long term strategy. And, of course, bone meal will add calcium and is already in powder form.

I have a small garden and a lot of chicken poop. limestone helps balancing the PH in my case.

 

[chickengr]

I do great with cucumbers, but have not been able to produce a decent carrot ever. I'm going to try them for the 3rd time this year. We will see... Last year I got one or two carrots to grow and fatten out but they were very short and looked more like a radish in their shape.

the same here. I am thinking to bury a big flower pot in the garden than to fill it with some soft soil. otherwise I get short 3 pieces carrot roots.

 

[Acre4Me]

I do great with cucumbers, but have not been able to produce a decent carrot ever. I'm going to try them for the 3rd time this year. We will see... Last year I got one or two carrots to grow and fatten out but they were very short and looked more like a radish in their shape.

Some things with carrots

1. Ignore them mostly. Lightly spread seed, and then thin when you can, fairly early, but then ignore them. They grow painfully slow it seems.

2. There are 3 main types. So try them to see if success is better with one type over another. Nantes is one type that we have success with- they tend to be blunt ended, look more like fingers. Chantenay type which have a blocky stem end and taper to a thin carrot , and Imperator, which are long/skinny and usually 10” or more in length.

3. Try mixing them among your tomatoes or beans - other than thinning them, you can ignore and will likely have nice carrots towards end of season, when your toms have slowed down. If they are getting shaded, they won’t die, they will slow down, but begin to grow again once they get more light. So last year the soybean plants shaded my young carrots in one area…they stopped growing much, but once I removed the soy beans (by cutting the stalks, not digging them up), the carrots took off and were quite nice in size. Around the toms, I cut back the low leaves on the toms for air circulation, and for light for the carrots. I sow carrots mainly in front of the toms, or between if there is enough space.

4. You have deep beds, so any type should not have much problem.

5. When seed shopping, and I’m not sure which type to buy, I look to see which ones come in more than one form (seed tape, pelleted, bulk, organic and not organic). If there is more choices for one, I assume it is popular and will try that variety when I’m not sure. I figure it’s popular for a reason.


I think I’ll be sowing about 6+ varieties of carrots this year. Last year we showed about 5 or 6. The orange carrots did best. Nantes type always seems to perform for us, and the yellow and red types took all season to produce a nice carrot and germination was only so-so for both.

 

[jerryse]

Cold and wind advisory starting at 6 pm . Hey on the plus side I haven't seen any skeeters or snakes in quite some time . I continue to make small gains every day in my recovery . I was able to get the bike pedals all the way around at therapy . I can now bend the new knee enough to go down the stairs using both knees like normal . Just barely . Knee bend at 106 degrees yesterday . I can walk with out the cane at times . Tuesday I started the chainsaw and cut up a limb near my woodpile location . Yeah it is mostly gone .

 

[Sueby]

That's great progress @jerryse!

Prepping for snow tomorrow, the birds food & waters are all filled, cars are parked inside & tractors, snowblowers & shovels are ready to move it all. Bring it Mother Nature! I'm planning on staying in & doing some baking. A Boston Cream Pie (low carb) - yum!

 

[DParker75089]

But there are dozens of varieties of bananas. Those are now being grown and kept in the world gene pool by small farmers and private citizens, and the prices are higher than the massed produced produce. The old world foods, and variety disappearing.

Yes, but that does not mean that Dole/Chaquita/et al are "killing off" or otherwise preventing anyone else from growing those other varieties. It just means that they and most others choose not to grow them because they're not as marketable. If/when the Cavendish becomes no longer viable then one or more other varieties will take its place. If any of them currently have value then someone will grow them.

 

[BReeder!]

I have a sinus infecting that I feel is flaring up again right now. I have to go out and get dog food and chicken fed though. Not looking forward to it...
I'll look to see if there's any clearance seeds at the feed store while I'm there though to add to my cache.

 

[vall]

Warming up. It just might hit 70 today. Macadamias are ripe, I picked the first handful. Spent most of the morning processing extra quail roos.

Can't wait for my bananas to ripen. I really don't like Cavendish, mine are an apple banana type. If you live in a banana growing region there really are plenty of varieties to choose from to plant - including the old grocery variety, Gros Michel, despite dying off commercially it has survived in backyards. I had a plant but it wasn't cold hardy and died back to the ground every year, so I gave it to someone with a better microclimate.

 

[pennyJo1960]

Morning Gardeners. We have rain 40 out.
Soaking rain .. Snow is gone !
@jerryse so glad it is healing.. Great strides your making!