Veggie garden friends of Mid-Atlantic.

Sally, I'm eyeing the dining room next LOL. I looked up pumpkin in the book I just got - it says pumpkins grow well when jimsonweed (Datura stramonium), sometimes called thorn apple, is in the vicinity. It also says pumpkins and potatoes have an inhibiting effect on each other.

Terri, that's really interesting - any other notes on what grows well with "jimsonweed", since it's prolific here :(

My bad, bad, bad...just spent the last two hours making lists of vegetables and actually placed two orders - but what do I order, flowers!!! See what this cold rain can do to a person? LOL I search every year for Black Prince Snapdragons and they're really hard to find. They were always my daughter's favorites when she was young - always said they reminded her of velvet :) Found them for the best price at Select Seeds, plus a few others I figured I might as well add......

Holly, when I do finally order some vegetable seeds, I'm going to have to look for those "indeterminate" tomatoes! I was thinking of growing some in containers on the deck, but with the limited space I could certainly use some that would "climb".

See what trouble you're getting me into with this thread! It's been 30 years since I've had a vegetable garden but I'm getting excited about the prospects of fresh vegetables this year :)

Well, you don't want to bring Jimsonweed into your garden just for that reason.!
Pumpkins and potatos both need 'room to grow' so they don't sound like good neighbors anyway. I have to find potato areas to make room for the dirt you dig up to get them (harvest) . I could put another prettier Datura by my pumpkin thoh.
I think I'm gonna suit up for the damp outdoors and move some Chrysanthemum pacificum. Good plant moving weather. I potted up some pieces of Geranium macrorhyzzum (Big root hardy ger) and they look good so far. Also going to stick my black pussywillow cuttings in dirt. Great roots on them!

The book said that the jimsonweed also protects other plants from japanese beetles. I guess I should do a little bit more research on the plant suggestions that I haven't heard of before I jump right in! I don't know anything about jimsonweed, but it sounds like it could really take over LOL!

Well, they make a gangly bush like a deprived datura, With a nasty spiky seed pod. You could manage one or to if you don't let them self sow.

Terri,

It has also been said that the 4 O'Clocks attract Japanese Beetles and--so it is recommended that you plant your 4's near your Roses.....
I have now grown my 4's right in front of my Roses for 2 years......can't say I have ever seen a JB on any of them!
They still go to the Roses.....Bummer!

Gita

Has anyone seen a thread on growing potatoes in containers such as old trash cans, barrels, etc. I was on it a week or so ago and forgot to save it. Now I can't find it. If anyone is familiar with it could you post a link. Thanks Ric

Ric, Is this the thread you are looking for on potatoes? http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/906383/
Jan, who started the thread also did an article for DG on the subject.


This message was edited Mar 16, 2009 8:03 AM

Anybody having trouble with squirrels this year? They've been on my rose bushes and even ate my hosta leaves last year. The little boogers even chewed on my plastic pots. I'm going for the blood meal because I don't want to lose my lettuce plants. Any other suggestions to deter them?

I tried potatos grown high, with leaves around them last year. I didn't get any potatos up in the leaves, just below as usual. Maybe I don't water and fertilize enough. I'm going back to in the dirt. My potato row is going about two feet from my spinach, which will be long gone before the potatos have to be dug.

Squirrel can be destructive but I don't have experience with them in the garden, unless they are the ones that eat the tips off my baby dogwoods and maples over winter. I suspected rabbits for that.

Lady, Thank You, but this isn't the one. The thing was so big, it was run over to 1 or 2 more threads. Dummy me didn't mark it, since I thought it would be easy to find. LOL
Sally, your damage sounds more like bunnies if they are small enough for them to reach. Ric

Ric try
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/865553/
or another in vegetable Gardening forum

VBR--

Last Season we had this Thread going on Garden pests.....

The main focus last Summer were too many rabbits and dragonfly'd battle with Voles.

This link is to part 2 of this Thread--but at the top there is a link back to Part one.

http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/893935/

I am sure squirrels were mentioned as well--somewhere......
The product "Snake Away" (Lowes has it--HD does not) was also discussed at length.

Re Blood Meal----
It does deter rabbits, but it also dissolves any time it rains or you sprinkle.
It is almost pure Nitrogen and a good fertilizer--IF you want a lot of green growth.......

Squirrels are very hard to control--as they can climb. jump, almost "fly".....
The worst thing they do is dig holes all over the lawn and beds and raid bird feeders.

Not sure they chomp on Rose bushes and Hostas.....Maybe you have something else doing that????? Could be rabbits---but there are not too many this time of year--are there???? I have yet to see one! ....Did see one run over on my street, though...so I guess they might be around.....

Gita

We found it thanks Lady and Sally,
Growing potatoes in a garbage can?
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/825325/

VBR
...if you can't beat em, feed em...

We have several bird feeders that keep the squirrels busy and sometimes we even put out squirrel food and cracked corn. We welcome all wildlife and have a lot of squirrels; they have never been a pest in the garden or nibbling plants. Your squirrels sound like they are eager to find some food.

I just replaced the batteries in our Mole Chasers for the season. These things do seem to work. They are metal tubes with a water tight cap that you plant in the yard, that emit a "sonic" that irritates the moles. Though limited it range, the area around them is pretty much mole free. Treating for grubs is the best deterrent, removing the food source and there is no reason for them to hang around anyway. Something like GrubX is usually effective but using Bacillus thuringiensis is the most natural. It takes about 3 years to peak and last probably 10. Now as to the Chipmunks... Ric

John has decided that we will do a vegetable garden this year also. I usually have green peppers and tomatoes, but am really looking forward to having lots of other goodies this year. It will be very interesting to read about everyone's successes and failures. We finally have some compost ready to be used.

This has been some very interesting reading. Thank you to all who have posted.

Ruby

I had worked on cleaning up my small veg garden area this weekend, hoping to get in some peas either Wed. or this weekend.
Woke up to a dusting of snow this morning. Maybe this is old man winter sticking his tongue out at me one last time.
Need to start my tomato seeds, they grow so fast once I get them outside that I don't worry about starting them early. As some of you might know, I grow my tomatoes in self-watering containers in the driveway where they get lots of sun, and I can watch for the first ripe one, and they are close by that I pick them like apples and eat them right on the spot.
Ruby, nice to see you getting into veggie gardening, nothing like fresh out of the garden taste!

With the cool weather, I haven't planted anything in the garden yet! Give me one nice day over Easter break (next week) and I'll be out there. Potatos, (kennebec, noid russet and a blue!) lettuce and salad greens, onions, maybe english peas. Oh, just thought of a good new place for those. Yay. I tore down a giant compost from last year so now there's a fresh line of fencing for them.

Ruby, does that mean you'll be able to take some seedlings (tomatoes, maybe peppers) off my hands? I've really got more than I should pot up, but I hate to toss the extras, because I always think somebody might have been able to use them.

Peas are in the ground, got them in yesterday, rain today then snow tonight. Got to love it

I have prepared areas but haven't yet put anything in the ground and sure can't today! Really raining.

This information is alarming!
This is a post about cutting up plastic things for plant labels.
Seems someone googled the idea of using the mini blinds, and seems they may have lead in them....
What do you think?

http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/969659/#new

I looked into it pretty thoroughly and concluded that there were some mini blinds coming out of China as I recall for a couple of years that had lead in them. Ones currently on the market should be safe, and with the recycled ones the leaded ones are probably few & far between. If you want to be certain, either buy cheap new ones or use a lead testing kit (the kind where you do a quick swab... popular for testing children's toys.

I was wondering how everyone's Veggie gardens are coming along? Are you getting them cleaned up, dug up, and how are the seedlings doing that you all have started? Most important ??? is have you eaten anything from your gardens yet?
Looks like there will be a lot of Tomatoes and Peppers at the Plant Swap in a couple of weeks. Ric and I have been working on the Veggie Garden a bit here and there as we get time. He has planted peas and is trying out a new (for us) system of growing potatoes in barrels.
We have had two meals in the last week with Asparagus from our garden and it sure was good.

Holly--

Mostly i am frustrated this year with how slow all the seedlings are coming along!!!!
Something "Cosmic" seems to be in effect this year! Last year--this time--I had everything, either in beds already, or in 4" pots and ready to go into beds.....

Here it is--the end of April--and my Tomato seedlings (other than the Mortgage Lifters ones) are just barely getting their true leaves.......My Daturas are in the same boat.....about barely 2" tall! So is everything else---AND, here it is, the end of April!!!!! What gives???
Any of you having the same problem???? SOOOO frustrating.....

The Swap is only 2 weeks away--and all these minute seedlings still would need to be transplanted to share......Theoretically--they are too young to transplant yet.....SO!
Now what? I guess I will have to cut up my cell-packs to share......
SPRING has to come sometime soon!!!!!! Crazy weather so far!!!!...UGH!!!!!!

Here are my Tomato seedlings, and the Daturas to the left......This was taken about a week ago.....Frustrating!!!!!! That's what it is!!!! SO SMALL!

As of last weekend--when we had that 90+ weather--ALL my seedling flats and cuttings have been taken outside! I just told them: "DEAL WITH IT"!!!!!!! NO MORE IN AND OUT AND LIGHTS......
Not all in full sun--being "kind" to them here.......

AHHHH--The Lion!!!!! Please bring on the Lamb!!!!!

Gita

Gital, I think my seedlings are small, too. I would put it all down to the fact that maybe I started a bit late, but I got all those plugs from my HGHA and they were started well in advance.
Talking about getting a late start sewing seeds. Is it too late to start lettuce.

Also took my two dormant Brugs outside Monday evening-----

The Rose Souvelons (have rooted cuttings available!!!) just greened up like nothing flat!

Here is how it looked the next morning--all green!!!! Just amazing!!!!!
My Maya (Peaches and Cream) is sitting on my front steps in total shade and dealing with it V-E-R-Y slowly.......

Gita

I'm putting my tomatoes into the ground tomorrow. This morning we put up the bamboo tripods for them; I have two rows of 6 tripods each, two tripods per variety so I'm just growing six types. My eggplants and peppers aren't nearly ready! I planted them in the Parks Bio-Dome on March 6, with a heating mat underneath them, and they took forever to sprout. The Marconi Red peppers I got from Pinetree only gave me three seedlings, and I replanted several times! The tomatoes, which were planted on March 18th, are ready for the garden. They're not huge but when I repotted them after they got their first true leaves I buried everything but the top leaves, so I'm hoping the root system is strong even though the plants still look small. I don't know what's up with the peppers and eggplants, though. It looks like I'll have to start them even earlier next year if I want to put them out the same time the tomatoes go.

Beans are in and the fence for the pole variety is up. Peas have been in since St. Patrick's Day, and they're coming along, as are the spinach, lettuce, onions, cabbage, radishes, beets, chard, arugula, fennel, turnips and broccoli raab. I planted my summer squash and melons during those hot days we had. The only thing edible so far are the radishes - and a nibble or two of baby spinach leaves. This is such a great time of year, though!

I started real late too and haven't even tilled the garden yet...I think it's the wacky weather.

This year, I hope to start on a raised bed gardens to eventually be an intregal part of a potager-type kitchen garden. My problem is that I really need a potting shed/storage shed and it needs to go behind the garden! So, some of them may need to get started this year and moved next year into place, I guess. I found a few books on this that were helpful. They certainly made the garden look very attractive. There were even ideas about making beds for raspberries and espalier of fruit trees on the perimeter.

I have come to the conclusion that I need more space! so many great ideas!

The raised beds are practical as I grow older, it will be easier to access them.
LuAnne

RatherB, Ric and I have been talking about raising our beds also. We have a friend that does all his gardening in raised beds. He packs them so full of Veggies that there is virtually no weeding. Very easy to move around in. Which books did you find that were helpful?
I'm heading down to the Veggie Garden now, it's cold and damp out but I thought I might get a few of the larger perennial weeds out of the perimeter of the bed while the ground was wet. Might be a good time to weed the Asparagus without disturbing it too much, also.

Anything that's virtually weed-free sounds wonderful! I'd like to know what books you're reading too. If you follow the recommendations of most books and seed packets you end up with a lot of room around and between veggies, and of course nature abhors a vacuum so weeding becomes a necessity. There's always mulching, but we'd need tons of salt hay to mulch everything!

Here's my garden as of yesterday, taken from the upstairs balcony. This cooler, rainy weather has been great for giving my newly planted out tomatoes a good start.

Gal that pic is pretty enough to warm the heart!

Thanks, Dyson! We've lived here for a long time, so it's been a work in progress. I'm trying to incorporate even more flowers into my veggie garden this year. I don't know how well you can see them, but there are two rows of bamboo tripods for my tomatoes, and behind those there's a bean fence made from bamboo poles and string. I realized that I had never photographed the garden while you could still see how it was set up, before the plants got too big.

I am having trouble with those silly eggplants and peppers. At this rate they'll be ready to go out into the garden by maybe August!

Having just moved to this abode last fall - I have a blank slate & not enough time to concentrate on it. I will get a couple of pepper, squash & tomato plants into the ground in a totally disorganized sort of a way and pray for some veggies.

Greenhouse gal, that pic is beautiful! I'd love to visit someday. (hint - hint) ^_^ I really would like to see how you have laid it out. Next year we would like to really make a veggie garden, so I can start thinking about the layout now and ....etc....

Jan, thanks! You're welcome to come by if you're ever in the area. Did I give you my email? Come take a look and get ideas if you'd like. I laid my garden out using Elliot Coleman's suggestions - 30" beds with paths between. He does 12" paths but we extended them to 18". And we have an old wooden landscape rake on which I fit two rubber extensions on two of the teeth, so when I pull it along the row it makes two evenly spaced furrows for planting. Johnny's Seeds sells special rakes for that purpose, based on Elliot Coleman's recommendations, but this works just as well. It's made planting in rows a lot easier! I used to use string to mark my furrows, which was a pain in the neck. There are so many wonderful ideas out there - there should be someplace to pool them so they're easy to find.

I'm upset this morning because I just lost two Noire de Crimée and two Valiant tomato plants to cutworms, but otherwise the garden is looking great!

Leslie

Greenhouse_gal, your veggie garden it to die for! I am green with envy.
To bad about the cut worms, darn worms. I make newspaper collars and bury them half in and out of the ground around each tomato plant when I set the plants out. Either that work or I don't have cut worms, but I have not had any problems along that line.