Boy the weirdest thing happened to me yesterday, I went to check on my plants like I always do, like a good mother would and saw that one of my broccoli plants was completely smashed down to the ground, the inside of the stalk was mushy and it had a bad oddor to it, and so I wonder, was it a big worm one of those that burrow inside the stalk, I started opening the plant in half and no worms in sight, then I thought maybe a big animal, or bird did this. Well this morning I found the culprit, my sweet little dog has been climbing in my raise bed, boy I was mad, furious. Let's just hope she learned her lesson and does not do it again , any ideas on how to keep no good dogs out of the veggie patch.
On a good note though yesterday was turning compost pile day and boy I saw tons of worms, first time ever seeing so many and well, ants too which are always there but nevertheless I am finaly getting worms in my compost as well as in my 2 raise beds, YAY!
feeding the soil first - PART 2
Carminator - one word -- "fence."
If not for a fence my dogs would help themselves to half the veg's in my garden, to say nothing of the trampling. The cats are bad enough!
(it was a lot warmer here when this picture was taken than it is right now...)
Sandy
Sandy,
What's the greenery growing right along the inside the fence at the bottom of your pic?
Carminator1,
Congratulations. "You've Got Worms!!!"
Just remember -- If you feed them, they will stay.
Ooo aaah, what a beautiful sight! I was going to guess rosemary, but when I looked more closely, I saw flowers that don't look like rosemary.
No, the TALL green stuff growing INSIDE the fence near the bottom of the pic.
Wow Sandy, that's the garden I want but don't have enough room in my back yard for.
Actually I did reprimend my little dog as soon as I saw her climbing the raise bed and so far she has not done it again, both my dogs are old 10 years so I thought it would be tough to climb for them in my 4X8 raise bed and double tall as well. if I she she keeps doing it I'll just have to build something like you suggested, but lets hope I don't.
Linda Yes finally I think your idea of blending the material or veggies in the blender and placing them in the raise beds and compost worked, thank you.
Linda it looks like squash to me but not sure.
Looks too big to be squash, so I'm gonna say pumpkins.
Carminator wins -- inside the fence, golden zucchini (more to the right was a pumpkin plant); outside the fence, tiger lillies not quite in bloom.
Can't wait to see it looking like that again! (13 degrees outside right now, brrrr - but at least the sun is shining)
edited to say -- if the problems with the poochies continue, since they're small dogs maybe just some of the decorative fence-type edging that is sold everywhere (Home Depot, Walmart, etc) would work for you; that would be easy to put in, easy to take a section out when you want to get into the garden beds, and pretty easy to store -- and you'd still be able to see your plants.
Sandy
This message was edited Jan 28, 2010 2:59 PM
I wanted to post a few pictures of my 3 raise beds plus some of the containers where I am growing veggies as well. I have planted Heirloom tomatoes, peppers (sweet) jalapenos, beans ( Bush type) zuchhini, squash, cucumbers, basil, potatoes.
I might have to cover some of the beds tonight it is supposed to get a little chilly but hopefuly it wont be too bad.
Here's my tomato bed.
Here's my onion bed, I also have a few shallots growing as well.
Nice looking wagons, I mean beds, Carminator!! They're really looking great! Wish my onions looked that good.
Stephanie, you are right they do look like wagons LOL, never thought of them this way. Yes I am very proud of my onion bed, hopefully my onions will do well ( this is my first time ever growing them).
Carminator1,
Did you start those onions from seeds? When did you plant them?
Those ARE great looking wagons, er, beds!
Linda not this onions I bought at Lowes, they are starts, the ones I planted from seed died on me so I had to do something and fast, I also had a few onions that Twiggy sent me as well, so they are also planted in these beds. I might try onion seed in the future but I don't like the fact that onion seed is only good for a year, even though my onion seeds were brand new I only had about 50% germination rate on mine.
I've heard that growing onions from seed is difficult and growing from starts is much easier. Maybe if you planted the seed in the fall it would do better???
Thanks, ya'll! I didn't know they sold onion starts at Lowes....
They do Linda, and at HD and WallyWorld too. Problem is though they are usually long day types that won't bulb up for us here in the South. You could always use them as green onions though;o)
Carmen - I have to agree with the other peeps - great wagons, um, beds!!
Kelly are you sure about the comment, the onion that I am growing in my beds is called sweet georgia onions and it is a short season type onion, so it should bulb up in my area, I just don't see why Lowes or home depot would sell you onion starts that would not grow well in your area and bulb up, if that was so a lot of folks would be pretty upset since they advertize their onions as the bulbing type and not the green onion kind.
Most folks would just believe it was something THEY did wrong, which is what the box stores hope for. Then, you go back to buy MORE and plant them again...
It's just like what's going on with the spring flowers here. They've forced them to bloom somewhere else, shipped them here knowing the unsuspecting growers will buy them right away with 2 weeks left on our freeze date!
It was 80 degrees and sun shiney yesterday. We're going down to the 30s this Saturday and Sunday....
So glad I went ahead Saturday and bought that plastic to cover my hoop houses!
This message was edited Mar 16, 2010 2:11 PM
I guess I'll have to keep a close eye on my onions, but I have done some research on this type and they are the short variety ones, plus Farmerdill did mention that they should grow well in this area as soon as I had purchase them.
Yes the plastic will be handy, I have had to cover my peppers already last night because it was a little chilly.
C,
What kinda peppers are you growing?
Carmen, you got lucky that your store had ones that will grow there. If they are short day that is exactly what you want;o)
The big box stores are notorious for selling things that won't grow in the climate they are sold in. People see them and ooh and aah and take it home, plant it and it croaks. Pays to do your homework or have great peeps in your area on Dave's that can tell you...
Great example - a co-worker was given a Haas Avocado tree by a friend for her birthday (she's a plant addict like us - lol). She was really excited until she realized, hmmm, don't see many Avocado trees in Phoenix. She did some research and good luck getting that thing to grow here. It can't take the heat. Her friend bought it at a local Home Depot. It's the same with a lot of citrus here as well. You really need to research what rootstock the trees are grafted onto because of our high salt content, alkaline soil. Wrong rootstock and your tree is toast. For that reason I prefer to but locally grown plants as much as I can. That way I know they will grow here - lol.
Kelly thanks for letting me know, I'll definetely research thinks a lot better before I buy them that is for sure, to tell you the thruth I did not even know about the long day, short day varieties etc... I thought an onion was an onion and that was that, thanks to you all I have defintely learned a lot.
I have a question though, for what I understand homedepot and even Lowes offers a 1 year warranty on all their fruit trees and veggies, which means that if they don't grow you can just go ahead dig the plant out, even if it is dead and bring it back to the store for a refund as long as you have the receipt I think, so why would they sell trees and veggies that don't grow in a certain area, wouldn't they loose a lot of $ if everyone like myself came to the store and asked for a refund?
This year I had to buy the onion sets at lowes because I ran out of time for ordering from dixondale, but next year I am planning to order from them, their selection of onions is great, and I really like their short day sampler.
Linda, I am growing red marconi peppers ( thanks to Twiggy) then california wonder, Jalapeno M. I had to cover them again tonight, it just feels chilly out and I much rather be safe than sorry.
C - I believe the guarantee is only on perennials which can technically include some veggies like peppers and herbs in certain areas. I think though that the majority of people never take the time to return them if they die.
You got that right!
Ok, the last WSing thread we were on has been taken over by the Zone 5ers who are just getting into gear.
So,
I'm back over here to report that I'm planting out as many tomatoes as I have strength for this weekend. And whatever else I can put out.
I found a neat template ya'll might be interested in. I'm gonna make several outta some pegboard sheets I had bought for another project. Trash to treasure. I'll let ya'll know how they turn out.
P.S. I have several Early Dividend Broccoli, Silver Cup Cauliflower, and other cole crop seedlings left in milk jugs from the WSing experiment. I truly believe it's too late to plant them out. Ya'll think I could hold them over and keep them alive until August?
Remember, I'm the one who grew that GYNORMOUS 9-month cabbage!
Hugs!
Linda what is the template for?
Also about the broccoli and cauliflower, if you have the room try and keep them, who knows maybe you can enter in the world records for the biggest veggies.
Hey, C!
The template is laid down on your square foot garden to show you where to plant the seeds/seedlings! It makes everything soooooooooooo neat.
I'm gonna TRY to make my own this weekend outta some pegboard I have laying around. I'll make templates for spacing seeds 3", 4", 6" and 9" apart.
Pray for courage and patience for me, ok?
I need your advice on what I could fill in those empty spaced with, now. The stuff that's there is just starting to come up good and won't be ready for another two months or so. Please LMK as I can start sowing some seeds or filling in with some seedlings this evening.
Thanks!
Linda
Do you have things to plant in those spots later on? You can always grow herbs or do some companion planting. Do some flowers, too, to attract the bees.
Bush green beans.
I would do beans, some edible flowers or how about corn, since they will give some nice shade to veggies like the mustards etc....
I would do a search for companion planting as well and see what grows well with the veggies you have already planted.
By the way I have big news, I got chicks today, YAY! I am so excited, my DH surely surprised me today, we drove to this really cool feed and seed store and bought 4 of them, my DH wanted to buy more but I told him 4 was enough for now LOL
Heres a picture of the babies.
Here's another picture. We actually got regular size ones, they are a Sussex hybrid and for I was told they are excellent egg layers.
They're so cute. Show us some more pics when they start getting feathers. That was such a nice surprise and I bet the kids love watching them.
Everyone around here is working overtime and I can't ask them to build something for me on their one day off. Maybe next year.
Twiggy, yes I am thrilled and so are my kids, they seem to be happy so far. I am reading a good book about raising chickens right now hoping that it will help me understand a little better. It was difficult for me not to grab more, they also had some Bamtams but the reason why I did not grab them is because they were not separated by sex, so you get males and females with the bantams, this ones are all females. My DH's remembered this particular breed from growing up in his granpas farm and how well they produced eggs so he told me that this was the best for the $. They are going to bring new breeds next month. I also bought some seedling trays and big 2 1/2 gal pots, prices were excellent at this place, very cheap.
Congratulations Carminator1! Now, may I borrow or rent your DH for a weekend? (smile)!
Here's something for all chicken lovers and dreamers.
http://www.backyardchickens.com/
The classy coop pictured on the homepage is a real hoot.