Victory Garden

[Sic Pup]

Yeah, I ended up with but a handful of strawberries as well. I've tried scarecrows, fake owls, pinwheels, nothing deters them. I can't be bothered with enclosing them in chickenwire or something like that. Same thing with the blueberries, they get to them just as they ripen not a moment before. Frustrating in that you know the plants are producing but some soup-Nazi birdbrain is beating you to the punch. Frankly I've just resigned myself to the fact that I'm saving on bird seed. If they weren't perennials I wouldn't bother at all.

No luck on the onions for me either, shallots were non-existant (I think I need a sunnier spot for those). I had a bunch of really tall onion shoots, they flowered, in fact, I think some of them were even overwintered. I harvested them the other day, all were about the size of marbles.

Beats me, apart from the beets none of my root veggies have done very well, I'm crossing my fingers on the carrots, the greens look magnificent but I fear, actually I know, I planted them too close together. That was the same issue with the potatoes as well, too many, in too small containers.

Sorry, I can't help other than to commiserate.

[Drawingablank]

For berries I use BirdX netting. It keeps most critters away and is fairly soft and flexible so I just toss it over the plants like a blanket - no elaborate structure needed. It is black so unobtrusive visually - I think most critters can't see it so they get creeped out when they touch it.

Its also great if you have a fish pond, it floats and becomes invisible when placed in the water. Back when I had a pond this saved many of my koi over the years as it deters sea gulls, herons, cats, and usually raccoons (some coons figure it out).

[Drawingablank]

Onions - I found this on some web site.

An onion is done growing when the green tops lose their color and bend over. If you're looking to harvest all you onions at one time, wait until most of them have fallen over by themselves. Once that happens, bend over any still-standing tops by hand.

Once all of the tops are fallen, give the onions another 10 -14 days to fully mature while still in the soil. Leaving them in the ground any longer than two weeks can allow soil organisms to invade the onion and cause the onions to rot in storage.

The only exception to the fallen tops signal is when an onion bolts, which means it sends up a flower stalk. If this happens, harvest immediately because it won't grow any larger. In addition, the quality of the onion will be affected since the flower stalk comes from the center of the onion. You'll also want to use these onions quickly because they don't store well.

[Sic Pup]

Ahh.... thanks. At least I know I didn't harvest prematurely (mine bolted).

No matter, I've been getting scallions, spring onions and cippolinis with the CSA. I got 2 heads of garlic this week too.

On the homefront the patty pans are ready:



DAB: If you're up for a ride, Harbes is having a corn festival this weekend. I don't go in for these events because they draw too many people ( having traveled Sound Ave for 2 years when I worked on a farm I know it's worse than getting stuck behind a tractor) BUT Harbes has the BEST corn I've ever had. However, I feel it's at it's peak the 2nd week in August. I usually run out there once a week to get my fix, never on a weekend. I went last week and it's the best I've has this year but nowhere near as good as it gets.

If you find yourself in that neck of the woods (preferably the Sound Ave location) make sure to pick some up. It's a little pricey (and what farm stand isn't?) 13 ears for $6.50 or something like that, well worth it though.

[Drawingablank]

The corn festival sounds interesting but with this combination of 100 degree heat and very high humidity I won't be attending it's just too uncomfortable. The air is so thick out there it can be cut with a knife.

Last night I wanted to do some weeding after work and it was so stifling I had to work under the sprinkler to cool me down. Made the job a lot muddier, and the water kept getting in my PBR but it at least made working outside tolerable.

I will keep the corn in mind if I get out that way, but I rarely get further east than Vets highway or every few months as far as Mastic.

[Drawingablank]

Yesterday's hail storm shredded my garden.

Anything with large leaves looks like it went through a shredder - pumpkins destroyed, half my cuke vines, much of my eggplants. Several of the cucumbers actually look like someone was using them for target practice and have dime size holes in them. The peas may recover, but they are very fragile to begin with so not sure.

The upside is that the tomato plants came through with just a few minor broken branches. I'm sure some of the fruit was trashed as well but there are hundreds of tomatos on those vines so it shouldn't be a factor. The peppers and beans came through pretty much unscathed as well.

Still have not harvested the first tomato yet - they are all still green and not even starting to ripen for some reason. The first cherry tomatos to fruit are now the size of plums and still not even close to ripe. I fear they may all ripen while I'm away at the playa. I've never seen tomatos take so long to ripen before.

[Sic Pup]

Oddly enough I didn't get any hail, and we're, what, 30 miles away?

I hear you on the tomatoes, I've an abundance but they're all green, some are gettting really big (and heavy), and I'm seeing 6-7-8 even 9 grouped in clusters, I've had to restake/rezip-tie several times. My cherries have been slow but they're ripening, just slowly, so that gives me some hope. Peppers are going gangbusters. I pulled out my early squashes which were wilting and will probably go pumpkins now.

[unjonharley]

Oddly enough I didn't get any hail, and we're, what, 30 miles away?

I hear you on the tomatoes, I've an abundance but they're all green, some are gettting really big (and heavy), and I'm seeing 6-7-8 even 9 grouped in clusters, I've had to restake/rezip-tie several times. My cherries have been slow but they're ripening, just slowly, so that gives me some hope. Peppers are going gangbusters. I pulled out my early squashes which were wilting and will probably go pumpkins now.

Cut the water way back and the tommy toes will turn.. They will think it's fall seed time..

[Sic Pup]

I'll do that, thanks! The cherries are on my deck and are manually watered when I think of it, the garden is on an automatic sprinkler twice a day. Makes perfect sense.

[Drawingablank]

Cut the water way back and the tommy toes will turn.. They will think it's fall seed time..

Nice, I didn't know that.

It's been so hot here that I've had to water almost every day or half the garden wilts, but by switching to hand watering I can avoid watering the tomatos and just water the stuff that is more heat sensitive.

Oddly enough I didn't get any hail, and we're, what, 30 miles away?

We didn't even have it so bad - hail was only a bit larger than a pea but the storm was over an hour. The next towns over (New Hyde park and Little neck) had it severe - major dents in cars, windows broken out, flooding, etc... They had golf ball size hail.

Finally found a pumpkin on the vines but its full of holes from the hail and half the vine is destroyed so not sure anything will come of it.

[AntiM]

My strawberry runners are taking over the garden. I put an offer on freecycle to come and get the suckers.

[Drawingablank]

I've had the worst possible luck with strawberries the past 2 years - they all died within days of planting. I used to do really well with them but neglected the garden for several years and now they seem to die almost immediately.

Alas, but I won't be in Utah until the 27th and will have more important things on my mind then - like getting my ass to Nevada and stocking the pantry and bar so collecting berry runners is not an option.

I did get to harvest a few pounds of blueberries and huckleberries last weekend up at the cabin though. A 60 acre blueberry thicket makes it really easy to collect masses of them, although the bears and deer pick them clean if you don't time it right.

[Drawingablank]

Cut the water way back and the tommy toes will turn.. They will think it's fall seed time..

Since you posted this we've had torrential rain here almost every day - at least 6 of the 8 days. Although a whopping 3 of those plum sized cherry tomatos have finally ripened since then.

[Sic Pup]

Earlier this week:

Since you posted this we've had torrential rain here almost every day - at least 6 of the 8 days. Although a whopping 3 of those plum sized cherry tomatos have finally ripened since then.

Mine have been ripening but some bandit has been grabbing them before I can pick them. Once I lost a perfect specimen Brandywine I resorted to harvesting a few days before I normally would. Go figure, damn critter will not touch anything before it's time.

Before:


That's a Striped Cavern -it's supposed to be that way (great for stuffing)


After:



Aftermath:

[Drawingablank]

Are you sure the bandit isn't a 2 legged one?

[Sic Pup]

100% positive.

They leave the hollowed out shells around.

Besides, two legged animals cannot get within 100 yds without Sic Pup unleashing the fury (actually same goes for four legged ones too but these appear to be nocturnal raids).

I'm not disregarding your suggestion about the moth balls, I'm just keeping that in my back pocket. Up to this point I've been as "organic" as one can be in this day and age (and, no, not by the gov'ts definitions).

[FIGJAM]

Cheese clothe or chicken wire, otherwise I don't have tomatoes, and ripened on the vine are such a taste explosion.

[Sic Pup]

Yeah, I've been trying to avoid that, I have close to 40 tomato plants that occupy half my garden and a portion of my deck.

I may just give it a shot if I find the time in the next week and a half BWAHAHAHA

[Drawingablank]

Not sure the moth balls would work anyway. I know they work for grey squirrels, but squirrels are not nocturnal (except flying squirrels).

[Drawingablank]

My tomatos are starting to ripen at a quick pace in spite of all this rain and we have several dozen that will be ripe this week. Yesterdays storm caused all the cages to fall over and the trellises to sag so as soon as it dries up a bit I'll have to reinforce all of them.

[The CO]

OregonRed & I just had cucumber & corn cut from the garden this morning with our dinner. I also harvested some jalapenos, tomatoes, & discovered that the elephant garlic is properly dried, so I pick up some additional veggies at the store & am now cooking chili to go to the playa. Tomorrow will be green tomato & jalepenos from the garden going into some playa salsa.

I freakin love my garden.

[Sic Pup]

I'm not sure if any of you folk are interested but I figure this might be the audience for this:

PLAY)A(SKOOL CLASS SCHEDULE - 8:00 & ESPLANADE

The Play)A(Skool folks write:

"Play)A(Skool is excited to offer a packed schedule of classes for the boys and girls of the playa! Our faculty includes yogis, astrophysicists, love and sex therapists, mystics, city planners, film directors, priestesses, artists, mathematicians, etc etc etc. Check out the schedule below. If classes aren't your thing, recess is always on in the Skoolyard. Contact playaskool@gmail.com for more info. See you in the Skoolhouse!

Wednesday
9:30am – Meditation and Happiness: Getting Tuned In and Turned On!
10:30am – Yoga to Cleanse Your Mind, Body, and Soul
11:30am – The Urban Farmer

I'm particular keen to participate in this as I completed Will Allen's Growing Power Commercial Urban Ag program but really haven't put much of it to use other than in my own garden.

[can't sit still]

Here is an absolutely fascinating paper on gene expression in plants. http://www.urzeit-code.com/index.php?id=23
An interesting paper on plants grown from seeds that were treated with magnetism.
http://health.indianetzone.com/magnetic ... plants.htm
This is a vid on the effects of using treated water on plants.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gjFnnOoxqk0

[Ugly Dougly]

Now that I got some property of my own, it's going to be a spring for planting!
I got a fig sapling that's already yielding fruit, a fuyu persimmon and navel orange already esablished, a friendly neighbor with an avocado, plus a avocado sapling of my own.
Plus I've got a sunny corner of the yard picked out for an intensive garden. If the shit hits the fan, at least I'll have something to eat.

[Drawingablank]

Congrats. gardening is a really rewarding pastime.

Sadly the two hurricanes that came through while I was away to to burn pretty much destroyed what remained of my garden - only the eggplants, stunted carrots, and ghost peppers survived.

[Ugly Dougly]

Picked up some seeds and will get more later: Chinese cabbage and Japanese shiso, a fragrant mint/basil plant. I'll pick up a jalapeño when it's available.
Today I got a strawberry guava, sort of a curiosity fruit (!) along with my loquat. Balanced that out with a dwarf Meyer lemon.
Hope I have enough room for all this!

[Oldguy]

LIVE OAK


Community garden in the works

Plans for a community garden in Live Oak are under way, with an informational meeting for residents at 6:30 p.m. Monday at 10720 Live Oak Blvd. in Live Oak.

Cost for the 10-foot by 10-foot plots will be $25 annually. Organizers plan to start the garden within 30 days.

The project is being coordinated by the city of Live Oak and the Live Oak Community Resource Center, with a startup grant from Union Pacific Railroad.

Plan are to use the garden to educate, promote healthy livestyles, environmental stewardship and community and social development.

For more information, all 695-2100.


Read more: http://www.appeal-democrat.com/articles ... z1qivlAOfw

[Drawingablank]

Sounds cool.

I'm just waiting for our last frost date, my seeds are all off to a good start I've been starting to harden them off for transplanting.

[unjonharley]

Any one know where I can get some twinkie seeds

[Drawingablank]

Any one know where I can get some twinkie seeds

I think you can only get those by "milking" Twinkie The Kid.