Carrots do best in loose, deep sandy loam soils which are well drained but not dry. So too sandy would be just as bad as to hard. In heavy soils they mature slower and tend to be rougher looking.
Edibles - '09 - Part3
That is a luxury. I had to buy a chainsaw and wood chipper just so I could get rid of my big, ugly branches that I pruned off the trees. Of course, now they're in the compost so it's a good ending.
And the compost looks good!!
So maybe I should grow my carrots in a separate container, since the soil in this bed will be the same all around.
Thanks Celeste!
I don't usually have a sperate place Harper, just this year. I just make my row/rows and then add a little sand to them only.
Sometimes I will add another couple of bags. I will throw in leaves and stuff too.
Really? Okay. That'll make it much easier.
Victor, do you have a seprate compost?
I don't. I keep saying I am going to. Can't figure where to put the bins. Yours look nice. Sounds funny - 'Nice bins, Harp'!
Oh! Why, thank you. (batting eyelashes)
Put the bins at the head of your driveway against your property line, facing the garage. That's where I'd put them. I put mine in a full sun spot because that's where I learned they belonged in a book I read. Since then, I have discovered people have their bins in all sorts of sun/shade and they get compost just the same.
Funny - that is the spot I am considering. Not to far to walk and out of the way. The lack of direct sun was a bit of concern.
I'd say go for it. The advantage to composting in the shade is that it doesn't dry out quickly so you don't have to water so often. I just visited the Orange County Arboretum and noticed that their compost was intentionally in the deepest shade. I wish I had asked them about it.
love the beds you guys!!... and that compost does look great
Very nice beds! I don't have compost bins, just an area down back where I throw weeds & grass clippings, & rotten stuff from the veggie garden----went to throw some weeds on the other day---large ribbon snake was sunning on top of the pile!
Harper, Nice compost bins. Pixie, love your greens/herb bed. Going to India for two weeks, worried about watering needs. Neighbor who would water usually would fix his sprinkler that blasts in my veggie patch. I have set up the soaker hose for the roses but my new perennials way up close to the street are on their own.
Rama
So sorry Sherrie! R.I.P. Mato
LOL, Pixie!!! Sherrie - sorry....that's a shame! They say to burn the plant entirely so the blight won't spread.
And don't plnat tomatoes in that spot for several years! Peoniae---going to India for business or fun? Is it very hot there this time of year?
Robin, Going to visit family. Where I grew up there were only three seasons- hot, hotter, hottest. This would be the hotter season. April thru June is the hottest time.
Successes:
* Peas (1st year...learned that you don't actually get a lot of peas for the amount of space a plant takes up, even though the plants were healthy and I got plenty of pods)
* Greens of various sorts (I think most of them would grow on cement)
* Blueberries (reasonably decent harvest so far)
* Raspberries/blackberries (planted 50 plants earlier this spring, all survived and some are even producing fruit)
Failures:
* Bush beans (most munched, plus they don't seem to produce as well as pole beans)
* Rhubarb (new roots sprouted leaves which then turned yellow and rotted. ?????)
* Sunflowers (apparently irresistable to every type of varmint on our property...plants were munched despite netting, caging, and liquid fence.)
Failure that turned into a success:
* Tomatoes (plant sitter killed most of my seedlings, but I bought replacement seedlings and the plants are healthy and strong and making lots of little baby maters).
Have to wait another month or two to see how the other veggies fared! :)
We found deer prints (big ones) in the fenced garden.....and we have a raccoon on the premises. I've never seen this before......one of my broccoli heads had a nip right out of the center of the head........now which one do you think is the culprit??? Somehow, I don't think I'm going to see much produce this year. All of the ripe blueberries are gone, and I think the culprit is just sitting back (like me) waiting for the bush beans to be ready.
Pam - given the conditions this year, I'd say you're doing a great job!!
Big deer Louise as in moose?
Sorry about your munchers.
I picked a handful of raspberries today - so good. I have 2 blueberries still not yet ripe. I'm trying veggies in containers and they are just so so.
The varmints are particularly brazen this year. We were out picking blueberries this afternoon, and a doe walked within ten feet of us while we were talking, moving, and otherwise making noise. She looked at us for a half minute, and then moseyed off. Plotting deviously, no doubt. Yesterday I saw her two fawns chase each other around the property. I've seen the woodchuck up on the front porch several times, and mama bunny and her babies nearly every day. Plus two feral cats, one of whom ended up in our live trap. We usually don't have too many problems with racoons...I think the woodchucks scare them off. EVERY plant is either netted, fenced, caged, and/or regularly dosed with liquid fence. DH is giving serious consideration to purchasing a BB gun, although I'm afraid that will just piss off the woodchuck.
The weather in WV hasn't been nearly as bad as the weather in new england...temps have been seasonal (upper 70s, low 80s) and although the spring was wet the summer has been pretty sunny. So far everything that hasn't been munched looks pretty good except for the rhubarb and I have NO idea what its problem is.
Many deer here too. I'm considering a bazooka.
My neighbor has been shooting off firecrackers---at odd times---trying to get rid of what he believes are coy dogs.
My neighbor is shooting off firecrackers at odd times too. I think he's just having fun.
here is the stuff i use on t-plants and any plant that gets a fungus disease - ortho garden disease control - the key ingredient is chlorothalonil @ 29.7% - there is another product called draconil i believe which did not work here and only had 7% chlorothalonil
Harper, he's having fun! Bill---that's potent stuff.
Update on the beautiful moth.......which, by the way, was removed by Hank from the sticky ball to find that he was still alive. Hank was able to remove him carefully so that his wings were in tact. He was not, however, able to fly much. He spent the last two days moving around the garden and the peach tree, but I think he either went too long without food or the sticky stuff on his wings prevented him from flying. In any event, he has stopped moving around. We found that he was a silk moth (polyphemus) and a really beautiful one at that. I told him just how sorry I was that we put those sticky balls out, and just how impressed I was at his spunk.
Sorry to hear about the tomato blight :( My compost hole is behind a big Mayday tree in full shade. It is so dry here that I think I would have to water it constantly to make it cook if it was in full sun.
I have been quiet. I "THINK" my 81 or should I say now 78 tomatoe plants are all infected with that crap blight ............... I went down and cut off a side stem. It had a slit in it. I cut the thing off and water or juice poured out of it !!! DH and I are going into the garden and cutting everything that looks like a dead man tomorrow. We are spending a whole day, just in the tomatoe department.
Pity me, pity me - I am totally freaking right out!
Hang in there, Sherrie----I know the gardens are bad, but grit your teeth---you'll get through it! Louise---how wonderful that Hank rescued the moth---very delicate job, but I know you're feeling better about it.
so sorry about your tomatoes Sherrie... that's terrible
tomatillo looks good... no fruits though
potatoes got huge... everything else is still puny
sherrie - not a lot you can do with all the rain we have had - cut off all the infected branches and keep at it - you will be surprised by how many you may get - the plants will still provided t's so do not fret too much - make sure you burn all the branches to kill the spores, do not throw them in a far off place in the yard - have wind, spores travel.
next year spray with the stuff i listed and all will be fine - you may want to get some this year and spray anyway - it will slow it down and hit your eggplant and peppers too to be safe, they show signs later on - i use one of those hand held pressure sprayers it makes it easy and fast to spray.
The magic bean is blossoming.
Is this the one that is purple then turns green when cooked? Mine looked like that. They were good!
Pretty color . Purple the turns green? Cool!
Oh, Sherrie - I'm so sorry to hear that about your tomatoes! I'd do as Bill suggests and hope for the best.
Allison - those potatoes look wonderful!!! I may have to try that method next year! Mine are looking ok, but nothing like yours look! What variety did you plant? You'll have so much fun harvesting them. It's like and Easter egg hunt when you start digging into the soil for the potatoes.
Marilyn - what a pretty bean flower! Very cool!!