2015 Gardens

[BenchCo Spydermade]

My humble garden .

Legion, welcome to the garden thread! Didn't know you gardened. May be modest, but your plants look great so far! Once you grow your own herbs that dry stuff just isn't the same! Looking goo!

 

[BenchCo Spydermade]

Well, the fruits of labor have come early. A lone, tiny strawberry has ripened, first production of the year!

Good thing I had an overbuilt folder to handle such a heavy duty task!

 

[LEGION 12]

Mines doing well I had to put up some swirly things to keep the squirrels out.

 

[22-rimfire]

Mines doing well I had to put up some swirly things to keep the squirrels out.

I love those wind spinners. I started with the $1 variety and moved to ones kind of like yours. Now, I have stepped up to metal that run $50-$100 each. I like to look outside and see if the wind is blowing and the motion is pleasing to me.

I have a small garden in my back yard. My yard is pretty shady with large trees, so finding a sunny place was important which I did close to my garage. My garden is two rail road ties long and 1.5 railroad ties wide. Mostly I plant tomatos, green peppers, a few squash, onions, broccolli, and lettuce. I have a few herbs growing in large pots outside. Catnip for the kittys to get high on.

Every other year, I pickup (about 1 cubic yard or a big scoop) a load of mushroom compost and spread about a 6" layer in my garden and in my annual flower beds. I then till it into the soil. What's left over gets spread around the lawn where it quickly disappears after a few rain events. The mushroom compost really makes stuff grow, almost grows too well. I'll have ripe tomatoes in a week or so. Looking forward to that as I can't stand the store bought tasteless ones.

 

[BenchCo Spydermade]

Mines doing well I had to put up some swirly things to keep the squirrels out.

I love those wind spinners. I started with the $1 variety and moved to ones kind of like yours. Now, I have stepped up to metal that run $50-$100 each. I like to look outside and see if the wind is blowing and the motion is pleasing to me.

I have a small garden in my back yard. My yard is pretty shady with large trees, so finding a sunny place was important which I did close to my garage. My garden is two rail road ties long and 1.5 railroad ties wide. Mostly I plant tomatos, green peppers, a few squash, onions, broccolli, and lettuce. I have a few herbs growing in large pots outside. Catnip for the kittys to get high on.

Every other year, I pickup (about 1 cubic yard or a big scoop) a load of mushroom compost and spread about a 6" layer in my garden and in my annual flower beds. I then till it into the soil. What's left over gets spread around the lawn where it quickly disappears after a few rain events. The mushroom compost really makes stuff grow, almost grows too well. I'll have ripe tomatoes in a week or so. Looking forward to that as I can't stand the store bought tasteless ones.

Man, now I've been looking at these things and there are some darn cool ones too. May have to accessorize the garden a Lil. Nice touch legion!

 

[LEGION 12]

Man, now I've been looking at these things and there are some darn cool ones too. May have to accessorize the garden a Lil. Nice touch legion!

I wish I could say they work but something is still digging around in them every night. Also when it get's real windy they act like propellers thought my tomato plant was going to fly away the other day. I am going to have to stake down the whole pot. But they do look pretty cool.

 

[taldesta]

It must be raining. I am not in the garden. Retired and loving every minute I spend growing. The other day a bird mistook me for a garden gnome and landed on my head! True.

Meet Lumpy, insect management coordinator - spending off-shift daytime under rock

Progress in the veg garden. Now double fenced to keep the pups out - how I wish a whirly or an owl figure would work on them! They were digging the overwintered onions and re-arranging the lettuce and green onion rows and would be on the tomato plants soon anyway

Tomato plants are just beginning to flower

Nature's garden - Wild strawberries thrived over this past winter and are taking over the sunny side of the entry garden

Also, no thanks to my efforts except to prune and prop, the blackberry bowers put on a show before the feast

Looks like I may lose the use of the front door if this robin's nest is completed. Using some interesting materials here!

Natures monarch habitat, the milkweed hill, is also thriving - the wild plants far ahead of the seedlings I have babied since February

 

[BenchCo Spydermade]

Susan,
Your making me a lil jealous there. We have many of the same plants, blackberries and strawberries among them. My small BlackBerry bush has been.pretty productive so far but is tiny compared to yours lol.

My strawberries have put out one tiny berry, but its still early! I'm trying to get the runners in pots to see if I can get a few extra berries by the end of the summer.

 

[Catherine_Montana]

Beautiful pictures posted here! Thank you for the lovely thread.

Cate

 

[taldesta]

Hi BenchCo Spydermade

Holy cow ... you have undertaken the growing well beyond what I would have in past years. You are way ahead of my progress.

You rock. Starting where you are will certainly thrive ... and give you meaningful results, whether in a porch/planter garden ... or in a welcoming property situation.

Forgive me, but I am able to look back and see ... growing goes on forever and food need goes on forever ...

:thumbup: Growing for food and eye-candy

 

[22-rimfire]

I have my tomato plants inside wire cages (concrete wire) and they are THE only way to go. They last for years. About two weeks ago I finally drove stakes (tall hardwood tomato stakes) and wired them to the cages as the plants were getting pretty tall. They hold back a lot of wind and it never fails that these summer thunderstorms will blow a couple cages down and sometimes uproot the plant or at least damage it. Now short of some really serious wind, they will withstand the pressure. Got my first vine ripened tomato over the weekend. Just about time to start making tomato sandwiches that you can actually taste.....

I added another wind spinner a couple weeks ago after spending something like $50 on the $6-$12 variety at the garden center which were destroyed during the first thunderstorm winds. High winds destroy the spinners. Metal lasts, but they are heavier and don't spin as easily in a slight breeze. My answer... have both. You have to be careful as to what you buy... some spin easily and some take tornado force winds to move. My little John Deere wind mill doesn't spin easily.

I might add that the concrete wire cages also make great perches for birds that are safe from the neighborhood cats (including mine). The spinners do nothing to discourage birds or animals from the garden. A BB gun or 22 rifle works better on squirrels and wood chucks. One is a deterrent primarily and the other is permanent.

 

[LEGION 12]

I take my spinners apart when it gets to windy found one couple of house's down last storm. But I have a few tomatoes almost ready.

 

[BenchCo Spydermade]

I take my spinners apart when it gets to windy found one couple of house's down last storm. But I have a few tomatoes almost ready.

Nice. My tomatoes have some virus, but have still been growing like crazy. I got a few so far from one I bought pregrown, but the one I grew is just starting to bloom.

 

[LEGION 12]

Is it a grey mold on the leaves ?

 

[BenchCo Spydermade]

Is it a grey mold on the leaves ?

Here it is. The lower part is sparse cuz I pruned a lot of the effected limbs off.

 

[taldesta]

I take my spinners apart when it gets to windy found one couple of house's down last storm. But I have a few tomatoes almost ready.

Holy tomato ! Very nice indeed.BenchCo Spydermade ... perhaps examine the underside of the freshly attacked leaves with a magnifier. Doesn't look like mildew in the close up pic.So, I have lost the use of my front door and cannot spend too much time at the entry garden which would also disturb the nesting robin. That's totally ok by me

 

[LEGION 12]

Here it is. The lower part is sparse cuz I pruned a lot of the effected limbs off.

Not sure what that is last year I had a grey mold on mine killed all the leaves but I still got a few tomatoes maybe try cutting down the top a little. You might get more tomatoes that way. Thanks taldesta

 

[22-rimfire]

Spindley tomato plants are usually due to them needing fertilizer, not enough root space, or the light is too low.

There are a lot of diseases that impact tomato plants, but the hybrids have largely been developed to provide resistance.

You might try a fungicide application, but be careful with that stuff.... pretty nasty to humans. I try to avoid using anything like that if I can. Powdery mildew does not look like that.

 

[22-rimfire]

Last year by mid august, my tomatoes were largely over, but still green. I decided to hack back the plants to just above ground level hoping they would sprout or rejuvenate themselves..... nope, old plants are old plants. Even rooted cuttings from old plants seem to be just "old plants". Don't know why.

I largely forget to take down the light wind spinners before a hard thunderstorm. But that works and protects them. A piece of plastic tubing works well for the end cap if your cap blows off and is lost.

 

[Catherine_Montana]

Holy tomato ! Very nice indeed.BenchCo Spydermade ... perhaps examine the underside of the freshly attacked leaves with a magnifier. Doesn't look like mildew in the close up pic.So, I have lost the use of my front door and cannot spend too much time at the entry garden which would also disturb the nesting robin. That's totally ok by me

Cool on your nesting robin!

You take beautiful garden pictures too.

Thank you for sharing.

Cate