Dave G
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- Sep 15, 2017
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- Ocala, Florida (OTOW, Kestrel)
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Gardening
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- #102
GGs Rosemary is taking off and she is cutting green beans right now
"Winter" is in full force here, lower 30's at night mid 50's during the day. Orchids can tolerate only 50° for a very brief time so they've been in the heated greenhouse since the beginning of November. The hibiscus and the rest of the less cold hardy plants didn't have to go in until December this year.
We successfully overwintered Scotch Bonnet peppers and a Black Crim tomato last year. I didn't notice that the stupid squirrels exposed the roots of the peppers during a stretch of 100+ degree weather and we lost the plants.
Hopefully, we will have our act together this year and start our garden early since we have some empty shelf space.
We successfully overwintered Scotch Bonnet peppers and a Black Crim tomato last year. I didn't notice that the stupid squirrels exposed the roots of the peppers during a stretch of 100+ degree weather and we lost the plants.
Hopefully, we will have our act together this year and start our garden early since we have some empty shelf space.
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- Admin
- #104
Good luck. We have the opposite issue with the tough summers.
My winter garden is starting to really take off. We had one frost scare, but hopefully that is the last of it. Thankfully I have a lot of friends to unload some of this bounty.
Awesome, I was wondering if anyone had started a thread like this around here!
I've been gardening since we bought our house 6 years ago. Right when I moved in I planted a small orchard. 1 Hardy Almond tree, one Red Haven Peach tree,
one Jonathan Apple tree for apple sauce, one Golden Delicious, and one Honeycrisp. Also have a Strawberry patch, and raspberry bush. Looking to add some grape vines this year, mostly for fresh eating. My kids and I love fruit, so the peaches and strawberries rarely make it into the house!
In addition to my small orchard, I've also grown sweet corn. 2 years ago I picked over 200 ears of corn, which gave me more than enough, so it was fun to share with the neighbors. It was a lot of work though, so I haven't had much corn since adding baby #3. But one day! The thing my wife has gotten me into is a Cut Flower Garden. Last year we had fresh flowers in the house from May until September. It was really fun to grow them and reap the rewards over such a long period of time. We grew some Sweet Peas, anemone, poppy, and various others, but our favorite by far were the Dahlias! We had 6 varieties or one plant each, and are looking to double out Dahlia plants this year.
Would love to hear about anyone else and their gardening adventures! It's beginning to warm here in Ohio, so it has me thinking of what my garden will be like this year!
I've been gardening since we bought our house 6 years ago. Right when I moved in I planted a small orchard. 1 Hardy Almond tree, one Red Haven Peach tree,
one Jonathan Apple tree for apple sauce, one Golden Delicious, and one Honeycrisp. Also have a Strawberry patch, and raspberry bush. Looking to add some grape vines this year, mostly for fresh eating. My kids and I love fruit, so the peaches and strawberries rarely make it into the house!
In addition to my small orchard, I've also grown sweet corn. 2 years ago I picked over 200 ears of corn, which gave me more than enough, so it was fun to share with the neighbors. It was a lot of work though, so I haven't had much corn since adding baby #3. But one day! The thing my wife has gotten me into is a Cut Flower Garden. Last year we had fresh flowers in the house from May until September. It was really fun to grow them and reap the rewards over such a long period of time. We grew some Sweet Peas, anemone, poppy, and various others, but our favorite by far were the Dahlias! We had 6 varieties or one plant each, and are looking to double out Dahlia plants this year.
Would love to hear about anyone else and their gardening adventures! It's beginning to warm here in Ohio, so it has me thinking of what my garden will be like this year!
I enjoy gardening and I think I'm so lucky that I a house outside the city with a big garden and I can grow there whatever I want. I haven't planted anything yet, but I want to plant seeds of cucumbers and tomatoes, parsley and many other veggies. Also, I was thinking to buy some fruit trees. Moreover, I already bought plastic decking to begun the building of a small terrace in the garden. I hope my garden will become a wonderful place in a couple of months.
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Anyone else starting to plan and/or work their garden for the year?
Over the weekend i did a few tasks to prepare. Dahlias began to sprout in the basement so I potted some of them. Also did a final pruning of my apple trees for anything I missed before. Got the raised beds ready so i can add some of my compost soon. I also trimmed the strawberry plants because those are starting to green up. Cant wait to start picking some from the garden!
Over the weekend i did a few tasks to prepare. Dahlias began to sprout in the basement so I potted some of them. Also did a final pruning of my apple trees for anything I missed before. Got the raised beds ready so i can add some of my compost soon. I also trimmed the strawberry plants because those are starting to green up. Cant wait to start picking some from the garden!
I'm not saying I'm a carpenter but I couldn't leave so I grabbed some scrap wood and threw this bad boy together. Our basil and cilantro are out growing their first pot. Probably going to add a few more plants to this bad boy! I have to say, never had a green thumb but this extended stay at the homestead has made way to me trying to maintain some fresh stuff from the house!
Fresh herbs are so much better than anything you can normally get! Awesome start, and cant wait to see how it progresses!
Couldn't agree more! I grew up with my grandparents sending me to the garden to get tomatoes, peppers, herbs and everything in between so they could start cooking dinner.
Don't have the space for a huge garden but if I can grow a few herbs, prefer that than over paying for stuff at the market. I'll post a few updates once I get some more plants in there!
My garden was attacked my aphids. They consumed 80% of my cauliflower, Brussel Sprouts abs bok Choy. So I ripped the affected plants out and planted more carrot seeds, two types of tomatoes and three types of peppers. The tomato’s are a flier. It’s tough to grow them in phoenix due to our heat. And the place I had to put them the soil is too fertile. We’ll see what happens.
I also planted some flowers to help pollination and to be traps for pest insects.
I also planted some flowers to help pollination and to be traps for pest insects.
You need to get some ladybugs in there to attack those aphids! Here in Ohio I use dormant oil spray on my fruit trees to help reduce aphid damage. 2 options to explore.
I'll also have the marigolds in place around the planting beds from the start of the season. I would have been ok had I harvested everything all at once. But I thought, why freeze all of this when I can eat fresh from the garden for a month. I looked up a week later and one head was 75% eaten. and all the rest were covered. I could not get those buggers to wash off the plant either. they just clamped on and died in place. buried deep in cauliflower.
That's unfortunate, but just something to learn from for next time!
Absolutely.
We just planted in the garden this past weekend, then did some work in the front beds...the plant all the way on the right of the front bed is actually a rosemary
- Staff
- #118
I finally dug out a plant off my small back porch that was an eyesore. Really need to do some landscaping and gardening this year as I put it all off when we moved in late last summer.
maxw72
Well-known member
Did you use wood for the bottom of your planter? I'm thinking of doing the same but with the bottom most likely needing to be something that will release water I'm a bit hesitant as what I should do on the bottom.
Could you just drill some holes in the wood bottom? I was trying to think of what else to use, and I'm struggling to think of something that will hold the dirt but let water out.
This is the bottom. I drilled several holes in the bottom to make sure the water had somewhere to go. I'm also going to line the inside of it with a heavy duty plastic (contractor trash bag or painters sheeting) to make sure the wood doesn't rot and it's a bit easier for the water to run down into the holes.
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maxw72
Well-known member
Great work! That is sort of the only thing I have come up with as well.
It's been a few years, but I used to plant a vegetable garden every year. The soil isn't great where I'm living now, but it'll grow tomatoes and basil. Nothing in the grocery store compares to garden tomatoes.
I've tried to plant blueberries in the yard but they didn't take. There's one large blueberry bush that was here when we bought the place and it's full of berries every year. Unfortunately, I'm competing with deer and birds for them. We also have tons of wild raspberries and blackberries that grow around the yard.
I didn't know that, but it explains why I've had luck with them.