Garden Planting and Harvesting

Gardening and Household tips. Good food. The Lighter side...

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Cherry Kelly
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Post by Cherry Kelly » 05-26-2015 12:26 PM

...and sunshine, but windy! gotta get the baskets on the tomato plants ... as weather forecasting another 5-6 days of rain -- with some being heavier??

glad we mounded most of the rows!!

wonder what summer will bring??

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Post by Fan » 05-26-2015 12:27 PM

finally nice here, we got 2 days of rain right after I planted al my seedling so they are plenty happy.
The heartbreaking necessity of lying about reality and the heartbreaking impossibility of lying about it.

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LeslieV
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Post by LeslieV » 05-26-2015 12:35 PM

Had another 0.36 inches of rain over night. At least we got mowing and some trimming done but lots more to do. Grass and weeds are growing like crazy and the big push now is to get everything tamed over a coupe acres so it dries out to keep the mosquitoes down.

Garden beds should soon dry and I can get all the repotted a few times over plants out so they can start to grow in real beds and not pots. Just worry now that we may go from cool and wet to hot and dry summer which will stress the other way.

I have a lot of trees to plant also and need a few days to have more than mud to plant them in and again, the same worry about the weather.

I guess what we are getting here on the plains of CO is better than the floods in TX and OK so be happy with what we got.

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Post by Cherry Kelly » 05-28-2015 12:37 PM

Had two days with sunshine, but sadly ground did not dry enough to do a lot in the garden ... let alone pull weeds (grass).

My spearmint and peppermint growing like WOW! As is the rosemary and thyme. They love this moisture! Even the sage took off and had been a bit concerned about the tiny plant when I first obtained it. Think it has decided to make up for growing and just took off as well. Parsley and basil are also doing fine as it the thyme.

We did get the tomato wire baskets set up during the sunshine, but they had the weed/water paper around them so that helped.

rain today - more of a drizzle and again tomorrow and a bit Sat, but should have 2-3 days to dry up a bit before the next rain shower ...

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Post by Fan » 05-28-2015 01:03 PM

we put newspaper under our mulch in the perennial garden this year, and wow what a difference! No weeds at all in those sections we did.
The heartbreaking necessity of lying about reality and the heartbreaking impossibility of lying about it.

― Kurt Vonnegut, Cat's Cradle

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Diogenes
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Post by Diogenes » 05-28-2015 03:26 PM

You should see what it is I save from packaging which is recyclable and place it on the ground with mulch over it. Also the cardboard which comes with the Scoop Free kitty litter kit is fabulous for laying down and stopping weeds. If the entire cardboard box from anything is recyclable, I put that down as well, good for the worms as they love it.
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Post by Fan » 05-28-2015 03:28 PM

Diogenes wrote: You should see what it is I save from packaging which is recyclable and place it on the ground with mulch over it. Also the cardboard which comes with the Scoop Free kitty litter kit is fabulous for laying down and stopping weeds. If the entire cardboard box from anything is recyclable, I put that down as well, good for the worms as they love it.


We did a single sheet of newspaper because I wanted to make sure it would degrade, but even that is working like a champ.
The heartbreaking necessity of lying about reality and the heartbreaking impossibility of lying about it.

― Kurt Vonnegut, Cat's Cradle

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Post by LeslieV » 05-28-2015 03:47 PM

Been putting cardboard down here and once it gets wet from the rain soaking thru it degrades enough to allow water to penetrate but really helps stop the weeds right up front and then the mulch has a good fighting chance.

I also put down surplus carpet between the raised beds and that is really helping keep the weeds down and makes a nice kneeling pad when working the garden.

Water soaks thru the carpet just fine.

I had one bed ready to go again and did put a plastic sheeting canopy over to hold back the rain some as everything is soaked here.

Just had another storm come thru and dropped pea size hail for 15-minutes and 0.40 inches of rain. At least the canopy protected the plants and did hold back some of the rain so things did not get real soaked.

A couple more days of rain then we should see near normal here. Only worry now is that it is June for all practical purposes which means a late start to the warm weather crops so I hope we don't have a early fall.

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Post by Doka » 05-28-2015 04:15 PM

I am late with every thing, between being sick and DRY weather, now hot 90* out. Have tomatoes and cucumbers planted, but need to get green beans in. And am fighting with oxalis, which usually wins. My sister said to put some pre-emergent stuff on this spring, that will teach me about listening to her!
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Post by Diogenes » 05-28-2015 08:27 PM

Doka wrote: I am late with every thing, between being sick and DRY weather, now hot 90* out. Have tomatoes and cucumbers planted, but need to get green beans in. And am fighting with oxalis, which usually wins. My sister said to put some pre-emergent stuff on this spring, that will teach me about listening to her!


Sisters!!!!:D

Are you referring to the large Oxalis with the yellow flower? I love that little thing and just let them go. They die out quickly enough and then I pull them out.

Has anyone ever planted Verbena Bonariensis? This is the heirloom Verbena and so lovely and because it is an heirloom it reseeds beautifully. It gets quite tall - 6 feet anyway but so lacey and lovely purple clusters of flowers which the butterflies adore.
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Post by Diogenes » 05-28-2015 10:37 PM

Fan wrote: We did a single sheet of newspaper because I wanted to make sure it would degrade, but even that is working like a champ.


Such a good idea as the sun heats up the newspaper and kills much of the weed seeds already established.


Nothing better than composting any way you do it.
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Post by Fan » 05-29-2015 07:17 AM

that is where I fail, my compost bin sits mostly unused. What we did throw in there never composted, I did not water it and so on. Seems like a huge task, I just have so many g-d jobs already I don't know how to make that one work.
The heartbreaking necessity of lying about reality and the heartbreaking impossibility of lying about it.

― Kurt Vonnegut, Cat's Cradle

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Post by Cherry Kelly » 05-29-2015 09:39 AM

Ahh yes, used to utilize black and white pages of newspaper until they changed the type of ink. Now with over a couple acres of veggie garden -- I prefer my weed/water roll, and re-use for several years. I also will not use cardboard boxes unless they are totally free of color... but have used some plain type in a few places.

Sill have a few plants in the sun-room to put outside, but still have a couple that need to be trimmed down and make some new starters.

need to have my other half take some snapshots to post.

Sounds like a lot of others are enjoying gardening now too!

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Post by Fan » 05-29-2015 10:11 AM

I only used newspaper in areas with no food plants growing. I guess it could affect my flowers but not too worried about that.
The heartbreaking necessity of lying about reality and the heartbreaking impossibility of lying about it.

― Kurt Vonnegut, Cat's Cradle

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Post by Diogenes » 05-29-2015 03:48 PM

Fan wrote: that is where I fail, my compost bin sits mostly unused. What we did throw in there never composted, I did not water it and so on. Seems like a huge task, I just have so many g-d jobs already I don't know how to make that one work.


Fan,

Yiu know I gave up on that as well when I read Ruth Stouts book and ever since then I direct compost. Like you I cook a lot so I have an old Volrath tall pot on my butcher block island and throw all the scraps on there. When it is full indid a hole and in goes the scraps and even the cardboard egg cartons broken up.
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