Good morning !! Who has planted their gardens and/or s growing seedlings this year ?
(deactivated member)
on 2/22/11 8:07 pm, edited 2/23/11 4:34 am
on 2/22/11 8:07 pm, edited 2/23/11 4:34 am
One of the LOVELIEST side effects of surgery for me is all the energy and TIME I have since I am not logy from eating too much food nor wasting my time and money preparing ( and eating ) feasts for ten ! I can actually pursue healthful hobbies like gardening ....
We had one fine day just after Valentines when it got up to 60 and I dug my garden and prepared my pea bed . I dug my Jerusalem artichokes - these were from just that one bed .
These are a potato like tuber with a gorgeous huge mutiflowered ten foot tall flower in October that lasts literally a month ---- often grown just for the perennial floral display -
that also is a very productive low glycemic index vegetable that can be substituted for potatoes in almost any recipe . ( or water chestnuts in stir fries ) I love to use them half and half with potatoes . Planted Alaska wilt resistant peas there after inoculating them ..usually get a great crop if the pigeons don't get them first .. flying rats !!
I only have a small brownstone garden here in NY city , 19 feet wide by thirty feet long .... but I dug two long rows and planted 2 rows various radishes ( including huge all- year oriental foot-long daikon radishes and purple heart watermelon radishes , 1 arugula , 2 various lettuces including romaines that i hope will carry us into the warm weather ... and five long rows of spinach . Inside under lights on a heating pad I started a flat of multicolored swiss chard and broccoli which I will transplant shortly ( which are already showing their little heads after 4 days ) , leeks , italian red onions , scallions red and white , chinese garlic chives , chives , siberian determinate tomatoes ,yellow pear tomatoes , brandywine tomatoes , german striped heirloom tomatoes , nyagous heirloom tomatoes , san marzano italian heirloom paste tomatoes Sweetie red cherry tomatoes , marconi Italian heirloom peppers ,bulbing fennel ( tastes like crunchy licorice - great with orange slices and julienned jerusalem artichoke as a refreshing salad) white cosmos , heliotrope for my containers ( SUCH a sweet smell and purple flowers all summer long ) , white marigolds , dusty miller , and giant snapdragons .
I covered the rows outside with floating row cover and ground staples just in time to protect them from the birds and the snow ....which fell two days later ..and now I'm waiting for another break to put the little ( 10' by 10') greenhouse up to protect the babies and bring them on when they get their first set of real leaves. Then Ill start my warmer weather set of veggies ... the squash , the eggplants .... flats of purple and big-leaf basil which allow me to make fresh pesto all summer long with abandon .. all of which get planted in the greenhouse alongside my siberian tomatoes and enjoy the heat as the siberians produce in June .
My only issue is crop rotation .. I really don't have enough space and sun to properly not grow certain families of crops in each sunny spot every year ... the way I try to deal with it is to shift the SOIL around as best I can .
There is nothing as yummy or as easy ( or as cheap ! ) as going out and picking Ur dinner ! I pick broccoli until December literally ..... and am just now finishing my last winter squashes and using my artichokes and fresh herbs
Even such a tiny garden as this meets so many of two peoples fresh vegetable needs most of the year its not even funny ... not to mention the perennial raspberries , strawberries and cherries I get to pick and munch on as I'm picking
We had one fine day just after Valentines when it got up to 60 and I dug my garden and prepared my pea bed . I dug my Jerusalem artichokes - these were from just that one bed .
These are a potato like tuber with a gorgeous huge mutiflowered ten foot tall flower in October that lasts literally a month ---- often grown just for the perennial floral display -
that also is a very productive low glycemic index vegetable that can be substituted for potatoes in almost any recipe . ( or water chestnuts in stir fries ) I love to use them half and half with potatoes . Planted Alaska wilt resistant peas there after inoculating them ..usually get a great crop if the pigeons don't get them first .. flying rats !! I only have a small brownstone garden here in NY city , 19 feet wide by thirty feet long .... but I dug two long rows and planted 2 rows various radishes ( including huge all- year oriental foot-long daikon radishes and purple heart watermelon radishes , 1 arugula , 2 various lettuces including romaines that i hope will carry us into the warm weather ... and five long rows of spinach . Inside under lights on a heating pad I started a flat of multicolored swiss chard and broccoli which I will transplant shortly ( which are already showing their little heads after 4 days ) , leeks , italian red onions , scallions red and white , chinese garlic chives , chives , siberian determinate tomatoes ,yellow pear tomatoes , brandywine tomatoes , german striped heirloom tomatoes , nyagous heirloom tomatoes , san marzano italian heirloom paste tomatoes Sweetie red cherry tomatoes , marconi Italian heirloom peppers ,bulbing fennel ( tastes like crunchy licorice - great with orange slices and julienned jerusalem artichoke as a refreshing salad) white cosmos , heliotrope for my containers ( SUCH a sweet smell and purple flowers all summer long ) , white marigolds , dusty miller , and giant snapdragons .
I covered the rows outside with floating row cover and ground staples just in time to protect them from the birds and the snow ....which fell two days later ..and now I'm waiting for another break to put the little ( 10' by 10') greenhouse up to protect the babies and bring them on when they get their first set of real leaves. Then Ill start my warmer weather set of veggies ... the squash , the eggplants .... flats of purple and big-leaf basil which allow me to make fresh pesto all summer long with abandon .. all of which get planted in the greenhouse alongside my siberian tomatoes and enjoy the heat as the siberians produce in June .
My only issue is crop rotation .. I really don't have enough space and sun to properly not grow certain families of crops in each sunny spot every year ... the way I try to deal with it is to shift the SOIL around as best I can .
There is nothing as yummy or as easy ( or as cheap ! ) as going out and picking Ur dinner ! I pick broccoli until December literally ..... and am just now finishing my last winter squashes and using my artichokes and fresh herbs
Even such a tiny garden as this meets so many of two peoples fresh vegetable needs most of the year its not even funny ... not to mention the perennial raspberries , strawberries and cherries I get to pick and munch on as I'm picking
Sounds absolutely lovely Ava. Once again you have excelled! I'm not near that motivated yet but, since fencing our yard for the dogs prior to surgery, I do have a nice area that will get southern sun and a length in the back that is shaded and would work for winter veggies. It will all be container gardening, which I've never done so wish me luck. I love Jerusalem Artichokes and they grow wild around here... most people do not know they can eat the tubers below. Would they do in a container?... say 16 inch wide & tall?
I don't have space to start seedlings inside so I'm going to just plant the seeds right in the pots when the weather stays above freezing at nighttime and hope for the best. These are heirloom seeds and i hope to harvest more seeds than i do produce actually!
I don't have space to start seedlings inside so I'm going to just plant the seeds right in the pots when the weather stays above freezing at nighttime and hope for the best. These are heirloom seeds and i hope to harvest more seeds than i do produce actually!
LIFE'S a REACH... 
and then you FLY!!!
HW = 224, SW = 204, CW = 124, GW = 119
and then you FLY!!! HW = 224, SW = 204, CW = 124, GW = 119
(deactivated member)
on 2/23/11 5:06 am
on 2/23/11 5:06 am
Ive tried growing Jerusalem artichokes in a very large container in my paved over front yard and was disappointed at their puny growth and huge need for watering .
I would just spade up a row where U want a TEN foot screen of beautiful bronzey foliage and gorgeous yellow flowers in October FOREVER ..preferably next to a fence where the plants can be securely tied once theyre 4 feet tall and thinned out one every 6 inches .
Ull never get rid of them once U plant them .... but they are great plants . I have a small yard but I really like them ... there's so little color otherwise in October , theyre practically no work other than the staking and thinning which takes only a few minutes .... and they're super productive and the flowers are really long lasting .
I plant them on the far northern side of my yard so the shade they cast doesn't matter .. at least not to me ;)
I would just spade up a row where U want a TEN foot screen of beautiful bronzey foliage and gorgeous yellow flowers in October FOREVER ..preferably next to a fence where the plants can be securely tied once theyre 4 feet tall and thinned out one every 6 inches .
Ull never get rid of them once U plant them .... but they are great plants . I have a small yard but I really like them ... there's so little color otherwise in October , theyre practically no work other than the staking and thinning which takes only a few minutes .... and they're super productive and the flowers are really long lasting .
I plant them on the far northern side of my yard so the shade they cast doesn't matter .. at least not to me ;)
(deactivated member)
on 2/23/11 5:45 am
on 2/23/11 5:45 am
Theyll do just FINE . I dig down at least a foot and i never get them all ... but they do make the soil very soft and easy to dig .... as a matter of fact I usually take quite a bit of topsoil from their bed every year and topdress other beds with it as its so fine and crumbly .... it basically LOOKS like compost .
Ive never quite figured that out ... for a crop that SHOULD be a heavy feeder ..it actually seems to need very little water OR fertilizer ...
Ive never quite figured that out ... for a crop that SHOULD be a heavy feeder ..it actually seems to need very little water OR fertilizer ...
OOhhhh you make me long for the smell of wet dirt and sore arms from my garden fork!
Everything here is still frozen and coated with snow!
Cant wait though, will start some seeds indoors in a couple of weeks to be able to transplant.
Love my herbs, tomatoes and cukes. Maybe this year I will have more energy to plant more veggies.
Cant wait for spring. Dug up my overgrown beds in the fall and will be planting like a wild woman this spring!
Oh the promise of spring!
PS - I love the new hair color and you are just adorable with braids! You are a true beauty!!
Everything here is still frozen and coated with snow!
Cant wait though, will start some seeds indoors in a couple of weeks to be able to transplant.
Love my herbs, tomatoes and cukes. Maybe this year I will have more energy to plant more veggies.
Cant wait for spring. Dug up my overgrown beds in the fall and will be planting like a wild woman this spring!
Oh the promise of spring!
PS - I love the new hair color and you are just adorable with braids! You are a true beauty!!
~Maria
SW 230 Preop 205 GW 130 LW 131 CW 135 Ht 5'1"
(deactivated member)
on 2/23/11 10:59 pm
on 2/23/11 10:59 pm
The cleverest and easiest idea for a quick, easy effective and cheap deer fence I have ever heard is this :
sturdy posts as tall as U can get them in the corners of Ur area - and about ten feet apart. (eight foot wooden ones will work in a pinch and cost 4 bux or so - ten foot ones would be better though )
Staple one length of ( preferably barbed ) wire to them about four feet up and another six or seven feet up .
Now go OUT 3 and a half to four feet in all directions and put up ANOTHER row of stakes and wires this time making sure Ur topmost wire is seven feet high , second one is five and a half feet high or even six feet high ....and so forth all the way down if U have enough wire ( doesnt hurt to keep loose dogs from pooping in Ur vegetable beds either ) . What Ur doing by creating this second fence is DISCOURAGING the deer from jumping .
Generally they won't try to jump anything thats seven feet tall ( their limit ) and wont try to squeeze between anything with a one -foot gap . the SECOND inner fence is for the bold ones That WILL eventually jump - they will get tangled , won't have a place to land and will provide an example for the rest not to try it and they themselves won't try it again ( don't worry they wont get trapped )
I was going to set this up in North Carolina but we never spend enough time there to actually harvest .
The double fence arrangement actually works - most people use expensive stretched wire mesh but U don't really have to . Like any livestock or prey animal , the surprise of feeling a wire at chest level is usually enough to contain .... provided U havent
left them room to comfortably LAND being JUMPING creatures ....
sturdy posts as tall as U can get them in the corners of Ur area - and about ten feet apart. (eight foot wooden ones will work in a pinch and cost 4 bux or so - ten foot ones would be better though )
Staple one length of ( preferably barbed ) wire to them about four feet up and another six or seven feet up .
Now go OUT 3 and a half to four feet in all directions and put up ANOTHER row of stakes and wires this time making sure Ur topmost wire is seven feet high , second one is five and a half feet high or even six feet high ....and so forth all the way down if U have enough wire ( doesnt hurt to keep loose dogs from pooping in Ur vegetable beds either ) . What Ur doing by creating this second fence is DISCOURAGING the deer from jumping .
Generally they won't try to jump anything thats seven feet tall ( their limit ) and wont try to squeeze between anything with a one -foot gap . the SECOND inner fence is for the bold ones That WILL eventually jump - they will get tangled , won't have a place to land and will provide an example for the rest not to try it and they themselves won't try it again ( don't worry they wont get trapped )
I was going to set this up in North Carolina but we never spend enough time there to actually harvest .
The double fence arrangement actually works - most people use expensive stretched wire mesh but U don't really have to . Like any livestock or prey animal , the surprise of feeling a wire at chest level is usually enough to contain .... provided U havent
left them room to comfortably LAND being JUMPING creatures ....
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