Gardening

[Robtouw]

I am thinking of having a raised garden this year with actual vegetables and melons! I am pretty good with flowers, shrubs, trees but haven't had time to expand. I have all the space I want for it and as much compost as I want but need "What not to do tips". Any suggestions?

 

[Duetsche_Doggen]

I haven't started a garden but my neighbors have. They told me to keep pests aways to use garlic water. Apprently it works better than pesticides. I'm not sure how true that is though.

 

[ruthcatrin]

I'm doing a modification of THIS idea this year. I'd love to do in ground, or even regular raised beds, but due to how the house and septic are set up there's no where reasonably close to the house (and thus easy to water) to do that, so I'm going to try this instead. I've got garlic over-wintering in some smaller containers. But in the big ones I'm going to do 3 different varieties of hot peppers, a set of sweet peppers, pumpkins, carrots, onions, melons, and zuchini. Hubby wanted to do sunflowers, so he's going to till up a spot way out to do sunflowers and a small patch of popcorn corn (at least thats my hope, how much I'll be able to save from the animals I don't know).....

 

[DennasMom]

I have three cedar raised beds in the yard that my hubby built for me.

One is for herbs, one for seasonal crops (currently 1/2 full of parsley, too) and the third has raspberries and currants in it... Denna tried to eat the raspberry bush last fall when she found out how yummy the little red berries were. So... I put up a little garden fence inside the boxes - she jumped those (4+ ft off the ground) and continued ripping the bush to bits... so I trimmed back the stems and laid tomato cages all over the box, which kept her out until last week. Now, she's reaching in through the holes in the fencing to pull stems, roots and all, out of the box. ARGGHGHGHGHG!!!

Looks like I'll have to build a better fence if I'm going to plant anything this year.

I was hoping for lots of greens - chard grows well here, I was going to add mustard greens and kale. Maybe some squash, brussel sprouts, pea pods... I always want to grow more than I have space or time for.

 

[chuckorlando]

Best thing to do is use a drip system to water it. They have a timer that runs on 2 aaa. Screws to the the hose fitting on the house or a hose. Then the poly line just slides into it. Then you use a plastic poker deal to pop a hole in the line then plug in the heads your using. Best to use a drip style or even a soaker hose so the water stays on the roots. Water on the leaf of bout any plant is where you get fungus. Also watch for ant piles. Ants actualy farm aphids. They will carry pets from plant to plant. The pest eat the plants then leave the sugars or honeydew behind. Thats the black poweder deal on leaves. The ants eat that black stuff. You want good air circulation as well. That means no crwded out plantings. When leaves stop air flow the humidity goes up and fungus loves humidity

 

[chuckorlando]

I have three cedar raised beds in the yard that my hubby built for me.

One is for herbs, one for seasonal crops (currently 1/2 full of parsley, too) and the third has raspberries and currants in it... Denna tried to eat the raspberry bush last fall when she found out how yummy the little red berries were. So... I put up a little garden fence inside the boxes - she jumped those (4+ ft off the ground) and continued ripping the bush to bits... so I trimmed back the stems and laid tomato cages all over the box, which kept her out until last week. Now, she's reaching in through the holes in the fencing to pull stems, roots and all, out of the box. ARGGHGHGHGHG!!!

Looks like I'll have to build a better fence if I'm going to plant anything this year.

I was hoping for lots of greens - chard grows well here, I was going to add mustard greens and kale. Maybe some squash, brussel sprouts, pea pods... I always want to grow more than I have space or time for.

Have you considered a motion sensored sprinkler? They use them for deer. If the dog dont like being wet they work

 

[Kujo]

Just had the boys build this for me (Kujo was very good at supervising)

Just needs some dirt and compost then we'll be planting!!

What not to do... Don't plant in shade, don't over water, certain veggies are friends and certain veggies hate each other (I forget the combos), and don't let your dog eat or pee on the garden lol. That's all I got


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[Seanndenise]

I have had a garden every year since I was 7 years old, it's a big part of our family lifestyle .

I think the best and shortest piece of advice I could give anyone that would help them be successful would be to

Start a compost pile

Put all and I do mean all your grass clippings in the garden, I don't care if its piled up a foot, put it in there.

Grass turns the worst soil into gold in a year or two, and it won't allow weeds to grow, keeps soil warm and keeps moisture in.

I make a seperate compost pile that I load with all my kitchen waste, No meat or dairy, breads.

I also throw weeds leaves and other yard waste in it, sometimes I'll throw some fish waste from cleaning fish in there when its cool out and let it sit over the winter.
Compost can't be beat.

 

[Robtouw]

My compost pile is mostly a combo of poo, horse, chicken,dog, cat. Will this be too much/strong to mix in the soil? My grass clippings go in my chicken coop, they eat them. I have decided on a raised bed made with cinderblocks, maybe 2 about 4x10. I can plant inside the form and also plant strawberries and herbs in the holds of the blocks. My beds will have to be somewhere near my barn because of the locations of my water spickets and hydrants. My goal is to plant tomato, carrots, radishes, peppers, herbs and strawberries. Later will plant watermelon in the second bed. I read somewhere that if you plant marigolds along with your veggies it helps control bugs, I will probably insert one right in the middle of everything to see.

Ruth, let me know how the popcorn goes! Last year I planted sunflowers along the flower bed that is in front of my porch and loved them! Birds had a fantastic time with the faces removing seeds. .

Chuck, thanks for the info on ants & fungus. I am positive that I will have issues with both. We have little ants everywhere except in my chicken coop!

 

[ruthcatrin]

Ruth, let me know how the popcorn goes! Last year I planted sunflowers along the flower bed that is in front of my porch and loved them! Birds had a fantastic time with the faces removing seeds. .

I will! Between the deer and other wildlife I don't know if I'll be able to get much, but I'm going to try. Hubby suggested doing additional corn in single rows in the middle of each container. I'll have to help pollinate those if I do that, but they'd be closer to the house and thus easier to protect.....and yes, I expect to not get ANY seeds from the sunflowers lol

 

[Robtouw]

My new peeps! A silver laced wyandotte and a gold comet.

 

[ruthcatrin]

Does anyone have any experience with using Irish Moss as a ground cover in shaded areas?

I've got this spot, that gets essentially NO sun. I planted some ferns in it last year, and going to plant some more this year, and some Lily of the valley as they're supposed to be good in the shade, but I'm still looking for ways to fill in this area.....it doesn't get walked through much, but it is where the meters and boxes for the solar panels are, so it gets walked through occasionally.

 

[ruthcatrin]

My new peeps! A silver laced wyandotte and a gold comet.View attachment 21295

Totally missed that, chicks! We keep talking about trying to do chickens, but I don't trust either dog....

 

[cwayaustx]

Can't help with the garden much except the compost is a must and if you are planting corn you must plant at least three rows more is better, now.. houseplants I'm your man...

 

[Duetsche_Doggen]

My new peeps! A silver laced wyandotte and a gold comet.View attachment 21295

So cute :grin:

 

[Robtouw]

The peeps, Alice & Jean have really thrown Cruiser for a loop! That dog has turned into the most jealous butthead I have ever seen! When I brought the girls home we put them in the entryway in an aquarium with a brooders lamp on them for warmth. Cruiser barked at them like crazy and howled at them at night. He likes to sleep on the couch and did not like them in the room so he paced, whined and howled. So I moved them to his room at the back of the house since he hasn't been sleeping back there anyway. Suddenly he wanted to sleep on his bed that he hasn't touched in three months! Every day at lunch he goes for a long walk, with plenty of time and places to pee. He went in after the walk and peed right in front of the table with the chicks every day last week. So once again I've moved them. They were about 3 inches tall when they first came home! Who would have thought he would be so mad over tiny little babies!

 

[Robtouw]

I have a shaded place by my ac unit also, I planted mums and covered the area in mulch. They seem pretty happy there, also shasta daisys.

 

[mx5055]

Does anyone have any experience with using Irish Moss as a ground cover in shaded areas?

I've got this spot, that gets essentially NO sun. I planted some ferns in it last year, and going to plant some more this year, and some Lily of the valley as they're supposed to be good in the shade, but I'm still looking for ways to fill in this area.....it doesn't get walked through much, but it is where the meters and boxes for the solar panels are, so it gets walked through occasionally.

I have one area Ruth, that when the leaves appear on the tree is completely shaded for almost the whole summer. It's a beautiful area in the spring when the daffodils and azaleas are blooming, but then turns totally bland in the summer. I tried a lot of different things last summer, and they all failed! If you can suggest anything to try I would be thrilled. It is a terraced area, so there are 3 flower beds there

 

[ruthcatrin]

There are several ferns that are supposed to do well in full shade, and ditto lilly of the valley. Not much for flowering stuff though, at least in my zone (zone 5).

Does the moss handle it ok though? I don't even care about bland, I just don't want the area full of weeds any more. The ferns are supposed to self propagate easily, and the moss is supposed to too, so I was kinda thinking that as long as I kept up the weeding between the two they could fill the area...

 

[mx5055]

I haven't tried to the moss or lily of the valley, but I am going to the nursery tomorrow and I will check them out. I am lucky that I have the tree, because it does let me use some hanging baskets and I can add color that way. The are some wrought iron poles of differing sizes that you can use to hang plants from. The two things that seem to thrive there (and I am always pulling them out as they go crazy) are the ivy and wild strawberry.