2016 Gardens

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Rupestris said:
No gardening today other than mowing the lawn and putting some seed down where the dogs leave bald patches. It's a nice day and the petals from my Magnolia have began to fall. It won't be long now and it'll be green.

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The Pear blossoms have peaked as well. "They are all perfect." ;)

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The Hostas are healthy.

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Daisy is wondering who stole all the fertalizer she provided.

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That statue is beautiful. I love it. What is that tree called?
 
craytab said:
Yes. Night time temps are very important. Also consistent watering. It doesn't really mater your watering amount, just that you do whatever you do consistently. Last, double digging the soil before you plant, though this is valuable for all plants, tomatoes go nuts for a double dug soil beds.
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Not sure what you mean by double digging. If it matters, I usually till up my little garden in the early spring. Then it sits for a while except for planting some things like lettuce or broccoli. Then I re-till the tomato area and blend in my mushroom compost if it is the year to do so. I do the compost thing every other year. So, does that qualify as double digging?

Gave away a bunch of tomatoes yesterday. Have too many to use. They are still ripening but the size is smaller than what I traditionally have.

Dug my onions out about a week ago and let them dry for a day. Then moved them indoors to conditioned area since I don't have a root celler or other out of the way cool place for such things.
 
22-rimfire said:
Not sure what you mean by double digging. If it matters, I usually till up my little garden in the early spring. Then it sits for a while except for planting some things like lettuce or broccoli. Then I re-till the tomato area and blend in my mushroom compost if it is the year to do so. I do the compost thing every other year. So, does that qualify as double digging?

Gave away a bunch of tomatoes yesterday. Have too many to use. They are still ripening but the size is smaller than what I traditionally have.

Dug my onions out about a week ago and let them dry for a day. Then moved them indoors to conditioned area since I don't have a root celler or other out of the way cool place for such things.
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Double digging is where you take a couple square feet of soil at a time and dig down about a foot, removing that soil. Then in that couple square feet you just dug out you till, I do it by hand. Next to that square footage you just dug out and tilled you do the same thing, putting the soil from the second hole into the first. This goes so on and so forth until the original soil you dug up fills the last hole. It is essentially tilling deep by hand. I add in some good soil or compost too when filling in the holes (we have very old poor soil here). I'm sure there are better descriptions of the practice you can look up but that is how I have done it for about 10 years now. Beds that I don't do it to show notably less growth, especially with tomatoes which can develop massive root systems. Sounds like you don't need more tomatoes though :) This year I did it in the same area where my hot peppers are and I am having some of the tallest plants I have ever had.
 
Zemapeli said:
That statue is beautiful. I love it. What is that tree called?
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Thank you. The tree is a Lily Magnolia. I live just outside of Chicago and the weather here is the same as it was when I lived in SE Michigan so one should do well where you are.
 
Pics to come but broccoli and cabbage are blowing up peppers have went nuts waiting on the rest of my tomatoes to go this is my favorite time of the year just feels good to grow your own
 
Oh yeah got hammered last night thought we would lose power for a bit. But other then that I'm ocd on a water in the morning and one after I get home at night it's relaxing
 
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I had to call in a trapper yesterday. The bastard groundhog in our yard figured out it could bite right through the chicken wire rabbit fence I put up 6 years ago. Traps were set and it took only about 3 hours until the menace was caught. craytab=1 groundhog=0 (well, actually it got a bunch of peas, sunflowers, & various herbs but he paid the ultimate price in the end).
 
Deer and groundhogs will certainly mow your garden down fast, especially peas, red beets, beans, and so forth.

I noticed that when I till, I am essentially tilling the top 6-8". This double digging as you call it might improve my garden soil by blending in some of the deeper soils that are seldom impacted by tilling. I have been getting smaller fruit (tomatoes) that what would be considered "normal sized". The initial tomatoes are normal store size and as the plants mature (and roots grow deeper I would guess) the tomatoes are getting smaller. The two most common reasons for smaller fruit is water and choosing the wrong varieties. Water is certainly not the issue as I water often. Since tomatoes are pretty big plants, I am thinking perhaps that they are rooting down below the till depth into much less fertile soils which might not have the permeability or fertility of the tilled soil zone..... Hmmm, making me think a bit on planting strategy.

Checked typical tomato rooting depths and about two feet is average. So, that is pretty deep digging of garden soils. It will be much like digging a double sized hole that is suggested when planting trees.

Thanks Craytab for the idea.
 
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Wow. Wow. Wow. :thumbup: I have a bunch of questions and comments that will come ... for a lot of wonderful previous posts ... so well done everybody! Take great pride. For now ... here`s the scoop from Spaniel Crossing
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I am Canadian and I apologize for posting too many toad pics in this gardening thread ... :D:D

You may remember that Lumpy was a regular in the pansy pot until we had a good rainfall. I googled toad habitat to re-learn lessons forgotten that she was hydrating through her skin in moist earth. Great.

With the rain, she was gone for a while and thankfully the pansies overgrew their pot. Come more dry weather and she was back ... giving a whole new meaning to my basil and tomato breakfast sandwiches.



Also proving that toads are good climbers. Honestly, did you know that?



Well, I live pretty close to the earth .... a toad in the basil is no deterrent ... but I definitely want to respect that a hard working toad needs her sleep ... and beauty moisture. Yet, I also want the 'closest to the kitchen' basil pot back. So, just for Lumpy, I set a toad spa box with wonderful soil for her that was easy to access in her favoured area. I shaded it with several plants. During the next dry spell, it looked like she was 'down with that'






Then, late afternoon on a hot, hot day ... a surprisingly wakeful Lumpy ... was on the move.






Some of her climb was hidden by foliage but here she is just gliding over the green ceramic bird. Back into the basil pot.






So ... not picking fresh basil from this pot for the moment ... uh, not during dry spells at least. I get that she can climb, but I wonder how she knows the moist soil is up there in the first place. Also I think she likes the safety from predation in a raised `bed`


... and even later on same hot day .. 'body drinking' in my seedlings tray. That's a 4" pot - pretty much stuffed by one plump traveller. Who knew that keeping up with a toad could be so challenging :rolleyes:




BTW ... a Lumpy mini-me hangs around in the veg garden, getting bigger now after surviving the predatory snakes. Wish me luck! And get the welding goggles ready to protect your eyes - the bee balm is starting to bloom. Be forewarned! :D
 
That is one big toad! We had our first cherry tomatoes yesterday. They were eaten too quickly for pictures.
 
craytab said:
That is one big toad! We had our first cherry tomatoes yesterday. They were eaten too quickly for pictures.
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Ha! Some little nibbler has taken some but I am enjoying a few every day as they ripen ... these are delicious Sweet N Neat but low, mounding and easily raided by little critters. Daisy has taken 2 big ones off the Early Girl ... but a few more 4' stakes to shore up the fencing seem to have stopped her. And I don't allow her too much idle time alone around the garden - things just happen. You know, the tomatoes call her name and the fence falls down :rolleyes:




Just scanning the bee balm with zoom this morning and this little guy popped into the frame ... no time for camera adjustments

 
This is one of my favorite snacks this is fresh zucchini from the garden,fresh corn off the cob from the farmers market pan roasted to bring out the natural sugars along with fresh eggs from my chickens alt pepper etc etc cooked in olive oil with a bit of crem fresh. OMG I LOVE SUMMER!!!


 
That looks very tasty! I just got back from visiting Hardy's' for breakfast; breakfast platter (with bacon) with a side of smoke sausage and pukey coffee. Good stuff and about all I can eat in one sitting any more. They really need to work on their coffee however.
 
Foodies :thumbup:


More notes from here ...

The before pic ... last year in spring I lined the rock edge of the veg garden with shim grade cedar shakes to raise it a little. To the right of the garden you can see that the little patch of sod laid in fall of 2014 didn't survive the pups over winter all that well ... so with some new sod laid two things changed last year. The porch was lined with pots of begonias to re-direct the pups away from the patio and sod and onto the laneway aggregate. And a small fence was placed from the veg garden to the porch in order to keep them off the grass. These two changes, plus some grass seed worked wonders. The row of growth on the near side of the veg garden is Caragana, first spring in this location. Started from seeds from a long established shrub/tree on the property.




After ... just a small patch of good grass is all I wanted to edge the patio stones. Caragana in this, its second season ... fast grower. Fixes nitrogen in the soil and should be casting a little shade onto the laneway next year. It is also planted to eventually shade the shop window - right now I plant pole beans on lattice to do this job.

 
With setbacks, it's taken such a long time to get this area leveled, grassed, patio placed and growing, and this year I can enjoy it thoroughly every time I look out the window or step out the door. I haven't posted the before pic ... it is exhausting just thinking about it! The big planters have nasturtium varieties from seed. When posts above talk of double digging to improve growth, I also think that attention to root systems pays off big time.





 
Veg and wild garden are both perking. I am so glad I put a higher fence around the wild garden ... not fancy but it keeps the cricket hunter out completely and the tomato thief out mostly. The wild roses and lupines are done, but the bee balm and black eyed susans are taking a lot of camera time. Well stocked with lettuces, swiss chard and ripe cherry tomatoes - lots for neighbour too. The carmello, beefsteak and early girl are all heavy with green tomatoes ... Another planting of spinach is coming up well, surprising for a cold weather starter. It's been hot for here and very dry. The veg garden will be blooming with a lot of flowers because last year's portulaca seeded it and I am not pulling them. Lots of interesting things coming up there, in fact.



Crown vetch, bee balm and milkweed. No monarchs spotted yet this year. This is a hillside that I used to have to mow. No more - thanks to nature's invasives.








Now, with the gardens and grass slowing down, it's time to sand the canoe and launch a little float time ...:cool:
 
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