Calling all green thumbs

[Clive]

Calling all green thumbs...............

It is that time of year when the avid gardeners are waiting patiently to get the garden in.

Any gardeners out there?

What are you planting?

Do you germinate your own seedlings?

How do you fertilize your little babies?

How big will your garden be?

When do you plant in your area?

[Planet Glass]

Well two days ago I had mini botanical crocus blooming next to the gigantic melting snowbanks.

I've giving up on indoor seedlings, I always screw up the hardening stage. It's like I try to get them used to being dead.

My garden is pretty big. Lots of work and weeding. It's going to be nice to be out in the sun after being cooped up for such a long winter. lady in Red salvia, cardinal climber, morning glories, etc. Red tubes galore.

Every summer I plant a hummingbird garden. Every year, in August, a female shows up. Never earlier! She leaves late September/October, and I know she's breeding in the area, because I've often seen her chase what I assume is her baby, because the baby tries to beg. They learn pretty quickly.

I'm excited about growing Ying Yang beans for drying.

http://gardenblog.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/yin_yang_beans.jpg

Aren't they cute?

I also have some special sunflowers. Are you growing sunflowers this year, Clive? This year I'm growing a dwarf variety called Double Dandy.

http://www.veseys.com/ca/en/images/products/small/2185.jpg

[Clive]

Wow they are real cute I must have some...I will check the green houses...
I plant a lot of beans every year probably 100 bushes...
I will grow the mammoth again with a different soil mix and in large containers dug in.
I use a 10-52-10 after I have transplanted from peat pellets to a 4 inch pot with lots of peralite. I transplant after the second set of leaves. They are 6 " tall now. I start only cyan peppers, tomatoes and eggplants.

huuummmy

[Clive]

I posted this first piece on a garden forum I am a member of - BUT
==========================
The Urban Silo.

A few summers ago I had a lot of leaves to deal with and wanted to save them for my garden. I did not want to build a large box where they might rot and be hard to use. I always use stucco wire staked in to the ground to support my plants on. I got the idea to make the urban silo. It is a quick and easy structure to hold leaves and grass clippings. This will allow air through the leaves to dry, so I can use them next year to get more organic matter in the garden, and to prevent my not great soil from drying out so fast. This empty one is 26 inches by 4 feet tall. At the top are 2 more one for grass and one for leaves and I think they do not look that bad in the yard and can easily be dragged in to the garden and shaken out for tilling in.

I am most likely not the first to have this idea but it works great.


http://writers-voice.com/Photo/urab_silo.jpg

================================================
Calgary at 10:00 am this morning...

I affectionately call it Oh Crap it was a toss up between that and Holy Crap... lol. Oppps

http://www.writers-voice.com/Photo/images_on_forums/oh_crap.jpg

[Mickjay]

You'd better patent that one Clive. As far as the oh crap / holy crap...Ditto...Getting it here in Charlevoix also. I'm glad I didn't take off the snow plow yet.

Mick J

[Clive]

On a much larger scale then my little garden is the world food supply. We are watching a serious situation developing in the east _ India, Malaysia, Philippines and China. Exports of rice being curtailed is the first clue as to how bad it is and rioting and pillaging are on the increase. What will happen when the natural gas runs out how will even come close to the amount of food that we produce now.

natural gas is responsible for all the ammonium nitrates produced and all the herbicides and pesticides. What will we do to maintain the massive amounts of food required for the future?

If we move to making alcohol from wheat to power machinery the flour prices will keep climbing. Do you think we have maxed out the available space and population room on this tiny globe.

[Mincot]

No, but we may have maxed out the ability to consume unthinkingly and asymmetrically.

Meanwhile, the herbs and the garden coming back for spring ... much of the "grass" is weeds, aka naturalized drought-resistent native plants :{

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v216/Mincot/Garden%20Spring%202008/th_00001.jpg (http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v216/Mincot/?action=view&current=0d90c181.pbw)

If the slideshow doesn't cycle, here's the link: http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v216/Mincot/?action=view&current=0d90c181.pbw

[Planet Glass]

I compost like maaaaaad. I have a huge pile in the yard, every plant that has roots in the vicinity of the pile grows at Peter's-beantstalk speed.

But the best thing about composting is that your kitchen garbage bin never stinks of onions etc.! And I don't have to change the bag so often.

[AspenHotGlass]

Bill and live on a 10 acre farm ~ next to his sisters 10 acre farm ~ next to his mothers 80 acres. We have a lot of elbowroom and places to plant things.

This is our back yard:
http://www.sonshyne.com/aboutme/71207Backyard.jpg

Being the gardening nut I am ~ this place is like paradise ~ at an altitude of 4,000 feet with a 100 day growing season LOL.
We have a small fruit orchard that consists of pear, plum, cherries and a few apple trees.
http://www.sonshyne.com/aboutme/71207rockgarden3.jpg

http://www.sonshyne.com/aboutme/71207rockgarden2.jpg

http://www.sonshyne.com/aboutme/71207rockgarden.jpg

Bill worked his butt off bringing in rocks from the fields to build these rock gardens. After years of fussing around with them they are finely taking shape. He has put a small fishpond in one of the rock gardens that has also become drinking water for the local dogs. I think it’s like the peoples version of a water cooler in the workplace ~ dogs stop by to catch up on the latest doggie gossip and have a drink. Poor fish in the pond ~ it must be frightening for them to be swimming around in a peaceful pond then all of a sudden a scary dog tongue comes out of nowhere to slurp water.

My big challenge every year is our vegetable garden. Since 2002 I have pounded dirt into submission to try and grow food for our family. It has been a fun journey (OK ~ sometimes not so fun) and I have kept a gardeners journal of all the trial and errors I have made since the start of this garden. Things to remember like “Note to self ~ do not let chickens in the corn field until the corn is well established. I found evidence of why my corn did not grow ~ during an investigation of a lost corn attempt ~ I discovered signs of chicken droppings and feathers where I planted corn seed. I love our free range chickens ~ they are great for bug control ~ but I need to keep them out of the corn field until the corn is established or they will eat the seeds.”

To get fertilizer we compost our food scraps, I clean out the chicken coop and hop over the fence to fling the moo poo into the garden.

This year the vegetable garden is about 6,321 square feet. It is a lot of work but brings us tons of food and is my stress relief. When the torch Gods are not smiling on me I will turn off my torch and work in the garden. Some people call it gardening I call it playing in the dirt :-). I also throw all the beads that don’t turn out (mostly because the torch Gods did not smile on me ~ LOL) onto our garden path. It is a real struggle balancing my milting glass ~ what I do for a living ~ with growing food for our family ~ but this year with gas prices effecting food prices so much our garden an important part of our lives. We will eat fresh veggies out of the garden and in the fall I will be scrambling to can and dehydrate the remaining vegetables. This should keep our pantry full until next spring when the cycle starts all over again.

Hope you all have a fun and wonderful day,
Rae

[Triplelle]

I don't have a very big yard, but I do what I can. I grow boysenberries, blue berries, strawberries, apples, gooseberries, rhubarb, currants and lingonberries on a regular basis. I also grow onions, peppers, tomatoes, peas, beans, and potatoes most years, as well as lots of fresh herbs.

And this weekend, I'll be investigating getting my own CHICKENS! Yeah yeah, I know those aren't plants, but having my own fresh egg source would be great. If we had more room I'd have a flock of chickens and some beehives and a couple of goats for milk and learn to make cheese. Just enough room for 3 chickens, that's all.

[Planet Glass]

Wow Aspen, you're living my dream life! I wish I had land, more than my suburban parcel.

My mother had a big family, I used to have 14 aunts and uncles. I think it's something some of us are born with, that urge to nurture the soil and grow plants in rows. I say this because whenever my mother's whole big family meets up (they are mostly farmers and to some various degrees, artistically inclined), they speak about the swallows, the texture and richness of the soil, and the progress of the seasons. I fit right in.

I have got that in me, somewhere. The biodiversity/farming instinct. I even got a BSc in Botanical Sciences...

I grow pawpaws, sour cherries, that poor blighted American Chestnut, 12 varieties of lilacs, crazy-looking dahlias, over a dozen different kinds of peonies and even more irises.

[AspenHotGlass]

Wow Aspen, you're living my dream life! I wish I had land, more than my suburban parcel.

My mother had a big family, I used to have 14 aunts and uncles. I think it's something some of us are born with, that urge to nurture the soil and grow plants in rows. I say this because whenever my mother's whole big family meets up (they are mostly farmers and to some various degrees, artistically inclined), they speak about the swallows, the texture and richness of the soil, and the progress of the seasons. I fit right in.

I have got that in me, somewhere. The biodiversity/farming instinct. I even got a BSc in Botanical Sciences...

I grow pawpaws, sour cherries, that poor blighted American Chestnut, 12 varieties of lilacs, crazy-looking dahlias, over a dozen different kinds of peonies and even more irises.

Bill and I are originally from the Seattle area. He was born and raised in Bellevue and I lived in Kirkland for 10 years. After working in the avionics and electronics industry we both moved to Montana ~ at separate times. This farming thing was a whole new world for me and I think the local neighbors got a kick out of watching me try and pound dirt into submission ~ it has been a real trial and error process ~ I could have used a little education in Botanical Sciences LOL. It is funny now ~ Bill has an 11-year-old daughter who he has raised on this farm since she was born. She likes to hang out as we do stuff like clean out the irrigation ditches so we can have free flowing water for our property. She came home from school last year telling us how crazy the seniors were. They were all taking a ditch day LOL in her world that means working on the ditch. Hopefully she holds onto that thought as she gets older hee hee.

I really like this new site ~ glass and gardens are 2 of my favorite things :-)
How cool to have this in one place.

Have a fun and wonderful day,
Rae

[strawberryblondie]

Hello Rae, I am in Washington state born and raised. Our daughter lives in Seattle and is going to nursing school there. How are you liking Montana?

Linda

[AspenHotGlass]

Hi Linda,

I am loving Montana ~ don’t get me wrong living in Kirkland Washington was beautiful, I lived blocks from Lake Washington so the view was great. But Montana has a serenity that I could never find in the Seattle area. Ok except when I was at the Seattle Aquarium or Zoo. I do miss some of the cultural events like the operas and concerts.
The one thing I really love about Montana is even when it is cold out ~ and it does get darn cold ~ the sun still shines.

I hope you have a fun and wonderful day,
Rae

[strawberryblondie]

Here are a few of the things in my yard that are blooming at the moment. The peonies will be blooming soon.

[Clive]

WOW - and here I sit waiting to plant - I will plant the spinach, swiss chard, carrots, beats and wax beans but the tomatoes, cyan peppers, egg plant and squash will wait another week or 2.

We always get a heavy dose of hail in late July and early August. This morning I have 2 plumbing finishes on my van but was told that I could do them on Tuesday and get a longer weekend starting today.

I am going to build some quick assemble panels of 2 x 2 -s and plastic sheeting, maybe 4 feet x 8 feet. Most hail comes at 2:30 in the pm or later well after the time I get home from work. I did a little dumpster diving on some of the construction sites where 100-s of homes ar just plywood stage and came up with a lot of materials maybe even enough treated planks to surround the garden.

Your flowers are doing great do you press any of them and use them in stained glass projects like mirror work and stuff. I use pressed flowers in my Clive-A-Scopes.

What Latitude are you at. I am at the 51 Parallel.

[strawberryblondie]

Clive, not sure what parallel I am at. I'm located in washington state in the USA. Getting quite warm here now. We've had our tomatoes in the ground for about two weeks. Just planted some zucchini and we have some strawberry plants doing well. Wow, you get hail in July?

Linda

[Clive]

parallel -- ok the US and Canada Boarder is at the 49th parallel - I live a couple of hundred miles north at the 51st and the North pole would be "0"
London England is at the same
This was a long weekend in Canada eh!...

I took Friday as well as Monday...

On Friday I planted spinach in a 2 foot x 5 foot sector and swiss chard in the same amount of area. Carrots in a 5 x 5 square foot patch and green onion in a 2 x 4 area. Then the wax beans green and yellow -- mmmm --- beans....they are in 6 - 10 foot rows every 2 to 3 inches growing against stucco wire for support.

I have a 60 to 70 cyan peppers spread and 20 tomato plants.

I never got to harden off the transplants so I put a polyethylene sheet over the plants to prevent sun burn. The Peppers and tomato went in on Saturday and Sunday and did not have any wilting at all, I don't even get that when I do the harden off... I will put in 6 squash and 3 egg plant with a 15 foot row of pole beans in better weather....

So every thing WAS going good till about an hour ago and the winds came in and are pounding my shade cover. the Peppers are up against stucco wire on stakes getting slammed against the wire. It is going to rain for 4 or 5 days.

I wish I was not always doing battle with Mother Nature...

[strawberryblondie]

Clive, you are my kind of guy, I love freshly grown vegetables. Sounds like you have a lovely garden going, good luck to you and your little plants.

Linda:peace: