The 2019 Gardening Thread.

[foxxycat]

I still have several pots of Roma tomatoes left-my friend from work-she wants to make sauce with them-so I told her I will bring in some dirt and plant them in buckets down where the tire garden is and they can grow 6 feet tall down there. I was going to lay down landscaping clothe-then a layer of stones from a friend's house-he's going to be getting rid of his stone walkways, then put dirt on the stones about a foot or more deep, use the wood from pallets to make raised beds out of=build some kind of box or something to contain the dirt. I have to first clear the land then measure how deep the dirt will need to be. Then measure how deep. Evidently 1 yard of loam covers 10 foot by 10 foot only 3 inches deep. I will need 5 yards then to make it a foot deep at minimum. I have deer netting to use to keep the rascals out of my plants and just use staking boards to staple it to. This is the project I was thinking about. I want to plant the rest of the Roma plants I have.

Those who plant tomatoes=how far apart do you keep yours?

 

[foxxycat]

I saw a method of planting tomatoes that looked intriguing.Instead of digging a hole, they dug a trench, stripped the lower leaves off of the plant, then laid the plant on its side in the trench and curved the upper part of the stem upward. The idea is to give the plant more area to grow roots. Too late for this year, but something to consider for next year.

YEs that's how I plant them in the ground where it's not deep enough-That method does work. The plant sometimes puts out 2 or 3 more stalks from the root ball.

 

[NY cat man]

We only have the 2 plants, and they are about 4' apart.

 

[foxxycat]

I have an area by the road I dug up on Saturday and spread the bag of compost I had into this area nd planned on putting tomatoes in the back and petunias in the front. I can fit probably 5 tomato plants here. I also discovered 2 huge planters in my shed-I really should go shopping in my shed more often, each bucket probably holds 2 cu foot of dirt which the bagged dirt is 8.50 each=for the same price I could have a yard of dirt brought in which would give me 27 cu feet of dirt vs 4 cu feet. LOL.

I still have time to do this project-I will put the tomatoes in larger containers this week while I work this project-I have 3 other errands/things that I have to get done this week first-but figure tomatoes grow pretty fast-so won't take much to plant them once I got the dirt down there-it's the holding the dirt in that I have to figure out-making a raised bed out of boards doesn't sound hard-I just don't have time..so this year will probably use the 5 buckets my friend has-we can put 5 of them in there, 4 by the road and 4 more in those huge buckets...I was thinking of making a triagle out of the buckets and in the middle dump a ton of dirt instead of using walls to keep dirt in.. I have to watch some videos first to get some ideas of how to contain the dirt without it costing an arm.

We have over 100 pallets that need to be broken down here-so I could pull the pallets apart then figure out to put them back together...but time is a premium right now.

 

[mama africa]

Those who plant tomatoes=how far apart do you keep yours?

I usually grow tomatoes in large pots.

 

[bbdoll22]

Some type of bug is making lace out of my blue lake bush bean plants! Ugh.

 

[foxxycat]

look up neem oil and use one of those garden sprayer canister thingies or get some DE and a DE duster applicator

 

[NY cat man]

I have an area by the road I dug up on Saturday and spread the bag of compost I had into this area nd planned on putting tomatoes in the back and petunias in the front. I can fit probably 5 tomato plants here. I also discovered 2 huge planters in my shed-I really should go shopping in my shed more often, each bucket probably holds 2 cu foot of dirt which the bagged dirt is 8.50 each=for the same price I could have a yard of dirt brought in which would give me 27 cu feet of dirt vs 4 cu feet. LOL.

I still have time to do this project-I will put the tomatoes in larger containers this week while I work this project-I have 3 other errands/things that I have to get done this week first-but figure tomatoes grow pretty fast-so won't take much to plant them once I got the dirt down there-it's the holding the dirt in that I have to figure out-making a raised bed out of boards doesn't sound hard-I just don't have time..so this year will probably use the 5 buckets my friend has-we can put 5 of them in there, 4 by the road and 4 more in those huge buckets...I was thinking of making a triagle out of the buckets and in the middle dump a ton of dirt instead of using walls to keep dirt in.. I have to watch some videos first to get some ideas of how to contain the dirt without it costing an arm.

We have over 100 pallets that need to be broken down here-so I could pull the pallets apart then figure out to put them back together...but time is a premium right now.

You could try placing a bale of straw between each of the buckets/ planters and then fill the space in the center with your dirt.

 

[posiepurrs]

look up neem oil and use one of those garden sprayer canister thingies or get some DE and a DE duster applicator

If you use DE wear a face mask as the dust can irritate. It is probably bean beetles.

 

[foxxycat]

You could try placing a bale of straw between each of the buckets/ planters and then fill the space in the center with your dirt.

That's a really good idea...I may try that. Jon says he's going to mow the rest of the land around the tire so I can work on this later on. The tomatoes seem happy and have grown another 4 inches. They need water 3 times a day now so I was going to temporarily stick them in these huge buckets until I can get some loam. But have to wait until Jon mows before I start putting stuff down there. I should have laid down landscaping fabric before I laid the tires down-This time I will do it for the tomatoes.

I am sure I can find some hay around. I only wanted to order loam because bagged dirt so expensive! which reminds me I got to go call the local guy down the road to see how much they charge for delivery. If nothing I can do a 50/50 mixture of loam and potting mix=I still have half a bag of seed starter dirt left and that I can mix in it.
Thanks for the idea N NY cat man I think that would be a good idea!!!!!

 

[foxxycat]

Ok I ordered this 50/50 loam from a local place that has mulch and dirt, it was only $30 to deliver which seems reasonable. It should be here Thursday so this Sunday will use the wheel barrel to bring it down below where I want it set up. Hopefully Jon mows it tomorrow so it will be ready for landscaping fabric to allow the water in but not the ferns and other junk. For now just planning on using containers then figure out the rest of it. Need to spread it in the other areas I want to turn over anyways so it won't be a waste. So much easier than dealing with bagged dirt. The mators will be put into their dirt this Sunday and we shall see how they do this year...

 

[NY cat man]

There are several places around here that sell topsoil in 1-yard containers, like a junior-sized Bagster instead of just dumping the stuff on the ground. Is that available in your area?

 

[foxxycat]

I didn't look into that-I wanted to find the best darkest dirt I could find for reasonable price. The dirt was delivered at 3pm Tues! They said Thurs so was suprised to find it in the driveway and yesterday worked on filling holes and bare spots in the yard. I won't buy seed-it's so expensive-when Jon mows it will get it to scatter from the clippings. I have two areas to pitch fork and dig up-then insert this dirt-plant the mators and wait for July and AUgust heat to come around.

I planted 4 of the tomatoes in containers last night. I still have another bag of potting mix to use up, a friend has 5 of these buckets she doesn't want, so will use those for 5 of them. Plus I added compost by the street and dug it up down about 12 inches deep so they will grow well there. I am planting the summer pik ones by the road-they claim the plant handles hot humid weather-still need to water accordingly. So that's the plan. The 3 plants for that area are growing in a lettuce container and have doubled in size since last week.

I ordered some rock Phosphate=evidently putting a handful at the bottom of the hole before putting plant in it helps your tomatoes grow bigger. So maybe they will grow even better....kind of excited to see how they do.

I was at Lowes yesterday looking for that rock phosphate-they didn't have it-and picked up a Cayenne pepper plant...for the heck of it. And bought a pretty turquoise bucket to grow it in. Along with some purple Basil to plant with the tomatoes. I can't wait till get this project almost done.

Jon tried to mow the rest of the field and got the tractor stuck repeatedly which I helped him lift it off trees and other junk that wrapped around the blade, then got stuck on a big rock..he ended up cutting a walking path through there but rest will have to be cut by hand-it's just too muddy...I tried to tell him there's catonine tails growing there so it's incredibly muddy...he finally gave up afterwards. Pumpkins are plugging away and loving the full sun down there.

 

[NY cat man]

I didn't look into that-I wanted to find the best darkest dirt I could find for reasonable price. The dirt was delivered at 3pm Tues! They said Thurs so was suprised to find it in the driveway and yesterday worked on filling holes and bare spots in the yard. I won't buy seed-it's so expensive-when Jon mows it will get it to scatter from the clippings. I have two areas to pitch fork and dig up-then insert this dirt-plant the mators and wait for July and AUgust heat to come around.

I planted 4 of the tomatoes in containers last night. I still have another bag of potting mix to use up, a friend has 5 of these buckets she doesn't want, so will use those for 5 of them. Plus I added compost by the street and dug it up down about 12 inches deep so they will grow well there. I am planting the summer pik ones by the road-they claim the plant handles hot humid weather-still need to water accordingly. So that's the plan. The 3 plants for that area are growing in a lettuce container and have doubled in size since last week.

I ordered some rock Phosphate=evidently putting a handful at the bottom of the hole before putting plant in it helps your tomatoes grow bigger. So maybe they will grow even better....kind of excited to see how they do.

I was at Lowes yesterday looking for that rock phosphate-they didn't have it-and picked up a Cayenne pepper plant...for the heck of it. And bought a pretty turquoise bucket to grow it in. Along with some purple Basil to plant with the tomatoes. I can't wait till get this project almost done.

Jon tried to mow the rest of the field and got the tractor stuck repeatedly which I helped him lift it off trees and other junk that wrapped around the blade, then got stuck on a big rock..he ended up cutting a walking path through there but rest will have to be cut by hand-it's just too muddy...I tried to tell him there's catonine tails growing there so it's incredibly muddy...he finally gave up afterwards. Pumpkins are plugging away and loving the full sun down there.

If you can get bone meal, it will serve the same purpose- stimulating root growth.

 

[NY cat man]

We are finally starting to get some blooms on our plants. First is a Stella d'Oro, next is a moonflowers, and last is a still-developing Coral Craze.

 

[rubysmama]

I'm getting some blooms too.

These were the first ones to bloom. Not sure what they're called. Some sort of daisy?

Next to bloom were these, also unknowns.

And lastly this orange geum.

I have one day lily with a bunch of buds, but the majority of them are super slow this year, and I'll be surprised if some of them even bloom at all. One poor plant I had to dig up and separate from mounds of grass, and a dandelion, that was smothering it. Hopefully now it will recover.

 

[foxxycat]

rubysmama The middle picture is called Bachelor's buttons. They self seed every year and seem to be low maintenance.

We got some rain yesterday so things should be happy that they got a drink. Looks like more rain next week. Debating keeping the mountain strain tomatoes instead of the Summer Pik if we have tons of rain. I noticed red aphids on my false sunflowers 2 days ago-got to spray them with the neem oil this weekend..oil smothers those bugs, no bees to sit on the flowers yet so it's safe.
I broke down and ordered 20 large pots on Amazon to put 20 tomato plants in these pots while I take the next week to set up those huge pots to grow them. I also thinking of getting some 5 gallon buckets from Lowes, take the portable drill home and drill 3/8" holes underneath and grab some stones on the side of the road to fill the pots inside then plant the tomatoes in the gully in dark blue Lowe's pots. I am going to mix 50/50 the dirt I bought by the yard and get that peatmoss starter seed dirt- it's only 15 bucks for a 35 pound bag and it's compressed. Once I add water to it it expands so will use that in the buckets next week.

Hope our summer gets a bit warmer as this 70 degrees won't cut it for my tomatoes this year!

 

[WoodstockGirl]

Between all the rain we've had, the cicadas, and the birds trampling my garden to eat the cicadas, my flower garden is pretty well trashed for the year. To add insult to injury, some critter (probably deer) ate my hostas and my coral bells. All that's left are the stalks and stems.

 

[catapault]

Look up straw bale gardening. You plant into the straw bales which eventually - think more than a year or so - break down and add organic matter to the soil. Smothers weeds on the ground, help stabilize a slope, quick and easy.

Bone meal is a poor fertilizer - very slow to become available to the plants. Plus every skunk in the neighborhood will come and dig looking for bones to eat.

Tomato plants - plus other Solanaceous family plants, think pepper, eggplant, potato - like a little extra magnesium. And all gardeners should have Epsom salts (magnesium sulphate) to add to a nice relaxing hot bath soaking away those aches and pains from exerting yourself in the garden. So either add one Tablespoon of Epsom salts to the bottom of the planting hole, per plant. Or if the plants are already in the ground dissolve the Epsom salts in a quart of water and water in. This only needs to be done once early in the gardening season, maybe again as a foliar spray late in the season. Also good if you have citrus in pots with leaves not very green.

And the yellow daisy flowers several messages up-thread are Doronicum caucasicum, aka leopard's bane.

 

[MoochNNoodles]

I almost have a tomato to pick! It's a cherry tomato and I'll probably pick it tonight or tomorrow.

DH and I have been very busy. We planted the 4 hydrangea and 6 arbor vitae. Today DH is laying cardboard and paper around them and covering with mulch. We have go to back for probably 15 more bags of mulch he said. It's looking nice though!

I got my 2nd garden bed cleared out but I'm out of newspaper to cover that for now. It's all weeded and smoothed back out and that's 85% of the work. I think we deserve a trip to Dairy Queen. Or a trip to one of those frozen yogurt places where you add all the toppings yourself and they charge you by weight.

DH was going to build my planter today but we are running out of time.