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sparticus posted:Is it safe to use pressure treated wood for raised garden beds? I am about to go buy wood for my garden and from what I read they changed the chemicals that they used to use back in 2004. The chemical you're referring to is arsenic. Check out this article quote:Should you go out and buy CCA pressure treated lumber to build your raised beds? Well no, you can’t. You see, despite the tiny safety risk, CCA pressure treated lumber was banned for consumer use by the EPA in 2003. Any pressure treated lumber manufactured for consumer use after that date has no arsenic in it. The ban all told was a better safe than sorry issue grown out of kids touching/playing on/eating off of/ CCA playground equipment, not garden contamination, but nevertheless, for the last 5 years pressure treated lumber has not contained arsenic. I suppose if you're really paranoid, go with standard lumber, but I use treated lumber on both my compost bin as well as my raised bed and haven't had any sorts of toxicity problems.
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May 26, 2010 20:45
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Posting late may garden pix. Those are 2x12's.  This is my first year of raised garden. So far I have learned that in Southern Illinois, my corn will shade out of my watermelons. One thing I'd like to know if anybody has a guess, my Cardinal Climbers have failed to thrive. They've been in the dirt for 6 weeks now, and they have the same pair of 'adult' leaves that they came out of the potting tray with, and haven't grown at all. Their leaves are bright green, they aren't wilted, they've been regularly watered, but they just sit there in stasis.
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May 26, 2010 20:52
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It's Ontario planting week!! my wife and I will be planting our garden Wednesday night, pictures to follow. Lots of work to do 
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May 26, 2010 21:03
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Marchegiana posted:Definitely blossom end rot, I've heard that you can crush up a couple tums tablets and mix them into the soil as a temporary remedy. Otherwise just make sure the plants are getting even watering, and cross your fingers. If the plants are in the ground instead of a pot, an application of garden lime before planting can also help for next year.
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May 27, 2010 01:33
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Whats wrong with my Black Krim Tomatoes   Is it Nitrogen Deficiency? Mites? I cant seem to pin-point it! Hope it isnt something serious... I'm also planting Serranos, Banana Peppers, October Beans, Thai Hot Chilli and Bell Peppers, which thankfully they all seem to be doing fine. I'll take a few photos tomorrow.
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May 27, 2010 01:45
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Any suggestions for earwig control? My plants (tomatoes, strawberries, basil, and oregano) have only been in the ground since Sunday and whole leaves have already been destroyed. At first I thought it was snails but some night time investigation revealed no snails but many earwigs. I tried the beer in a container thing but the beer just evaporated the next day.
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May 27, 2010 03:57
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Beer is for slugs. For earwigs, use vegetable oil with a thin layer of soy sauce. Same idea.
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May 27, 2010 05:12
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Thanks, I'll try that. Just went on a hunt and killed one that was on the strawberries. Baby steps and all.
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May 27, 2010 06:11
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Shy Farting Man posted:
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May 27, 2010 08:55
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chrix posted:The chemical you're referring to is arsenic. Check out this article Do you have the plans or a picture of your compost bin? I have seen 3 different styles, but I like the bin one the best.
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May 27, 2010 13:56
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Shy Farting Man posted:Whats wrong with my Black Krim Tomatoes Maybe powdery mildew or another fungus. Try a baking soda solution on the leaves http://gardening.about.com/od/gardenproblems/qt/PowderyMildew.htm
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May 27, 2010 18:54
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Shy Farting Man posted:Whats wrong with my Black Krim Tomatoes Looks like a few types of insects.
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May 27, 2010 19:23
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I always forget about this thread, but as a gardener for several years now it is always interesting to read. Here's some of the harvest from yesterday, garden is located in Hays County, Texas, near Austin.  Click here for the full 604x453 image. Five squash, five plums, 2 blackberries and 1 Early Girl tomato. The first signs of the influx of veggies and fruit to come. Have two gardens and growing this year are several types of tomatoes (Roma, Early Girl, Celebrity, Old German and two others I forget), pickling cucumbers, yellow squash, Peter Pan squash, jalapeno peppers, bell peppers, hot and sweet banana peppers, okra, green beans, black eyed peas, corn, cantaloupe, yellow and white onions. Also have grapes, blackberries, raspberries, plum and pear trees. I'll take some better pics of the two gardens to post up soon.
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May 28, 2010 07:24
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Haven't posted about my garden yet, but have been following this since the start of spring. I'm in the Philadelphia region and this is my first time gardening. I've watched my mother do it for years and since I've been away from home for a few years, I really miss having access to the fresh veggies! So everything has been put in and suprisingly, I haven't killed it all off. In fact! They are doing really well. I have to say I think I found a new love. I am growing, Zuchini, Tomatoes (cherry and beef master), Eggplant, Cucumbers, Brocoli and a lot of Romain Lettuce. I also have a small herb garden going with Cilantro, Basil, Thyme and Rosemary. I have been warned by my mother that I am going to have way too much zuchini, I have four plants right now, but I look forward to making a lot of zuchini bread and stir fry with it. Everything is being grown in a long raised bed running along the fence line of my house. My roommates mother, who owns the house, used to garden every year there while she lived here, so it's a nice little set up. I'm also sharing the bed with the tennants upstairs who do this every year (there tomatoes look a lot happier than mine) so it's nice to kind of watch what they do and adjust my side accordingly. I am so excited that buds are starting on my plants. I think the zuchini is going to be the first one to start producing. Seriously, how do you guys deal with the anxiousness of waiting!?
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May 28, 2010 15:54
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sparticus posted:Do you have the plans or a picture of your compost bin? I can take a picture later, but it's really nothing special. I built a frame from 1x1" treated lumber, added some support beams and wrapped it in plastic hex fence. The reason it's so bare is so I can literally lift the whole thing (leaving the compost down), which allows me to turn the compost pretty easily. I probably spent less than $10 total and still have quite a bit of the plastic hex netting leftover.
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May 28, 2010 16:00
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You can make a cheap and long lasting compost "bin" by putting 3 rods of rebar (I used 6' lengths I think) in a triangle and wrapping hardware cloth around them. Makes a rough cylinder about 4' tall and 2' across and will last forever.
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May 28, 2010 16:10
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Our compost bins are made from wooden shipping pallets nailed to stakes sunk in the ground and hidden behind a box hedge. The council also gave us some plastic ones, but while they're slightly more pleasant to be around, I think they don't make compost as well. It's hard to turn it with a fork so it doesn't decompose properly. For a real ghetto compost bin, you can just hammer canes or stakes into the ground and wrap chicken wire round them to make a waste cage. It aerates well, but is so gross to look at. By the way, Gardening Which did a study on speeding up decomposition in their best buy compost bin, and found you can get from a full bin to usable bedding compost in 2 months without adding anything. Just give it a really thorough turn with a garden fork 3 times a week.
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May 28, 2010 17:08
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My "compost bin" is a pile on the edge of the woodline. Works well enough! If it's compostable, it goes in. Seafood shells, paper towels (no chemicals or fat on them), my grass clippings, vegetable scraps, egg cartons (shells too!). The thing is like Mr. Fusion in a pile.
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May 28, 2010 17:27
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I can't have an open compost bin (city rules against such things since people use them incorrectly and attract pests) so earlier this year I bought one of these: http://www.acehardware.com/product/index.jsp?productId=3800117 It looks alright in the yard and is easy to turn, though the size makes it of limited use. I'll report back when it's done making it's first batch, but last I checked it had just started to work so it will likely be 3 months start to finish on my first batch. In other news, the tomatoes are improving but still doing horrible, the peppers are being devoured by some type of bug that I can't track down and the green beans are just now starting to poke their little heads above the soil. However, I'm picking over half a pound of strawberries a day, the new rows of strawberries that I planted are all looking super strong with only 2 casualties out of the 40 odd plants that went in the ground and the blackberry bushes are actually starting to produce! Hopefully this weekend is just filled with the basic weeding and nothing major being needed, but we shall see.
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May 29, 2010 00:15
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I almost started a compost bin myself, but then a friend informed me that in Norman, OK they have a free compost center... I was all WHAT?? Sure enough take your truck there with a shovel and go to town filling it up completely free. For those that don't want to deal with making it yourself I recomend checking around to see if your town or a town near you has something similar.
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May 30, 2010 03:13
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Veila posted:I almost started a compost bin myself, but then a friend informed me that in Norman, OK they have a free compost center... I was all WHAT?? Sure enough take your truck there with a shovel and go to town filling it up completely free. For those that don't want to deal with making it yourself I recomend checking around to see if your town or a town near you has something similar. The problem I have with those places (because my city has one itself) is that people put literally everything imaginable in their yard bins. Poison ivy and oak along with tons of seeds of weeds get mixed in with pesticides and poisonous fertilizers that are used on the over chemically treated grass cuttings which just leads to potential problems. I'll use the city compost when dealing with a flower bed that I don't plan to ever put veggies in, but if I'm going to eat it I'd recommend having a bit more control over your compost sources than a normal city compost system could provide.
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May 30, 2010 06:52
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Anubis posted:The problem I have with those places (because my city has one itself) is that people put literally everything imaginable in their yard bins. Poison ivy and oak along with tons of seeds of weeds get mixed in with pesticides and poisonous fertilizers that are used on the over chemically treated grass cuttings which just leads to potential problems. In a well managed compost bin, the heat from decomposition is enough to kill any seeds in there. Doesn't stop the problem of people chucking perennial weed roots in there though I also agree with you on lawn chemicals; some people are so over-zealous of their lawn and douse it with all kinds of poison that I wouldn't want anywhere near my food.The council gave us a green wheelie bin for garden waste and we do use it for some things. Food waste and most stuff goes on our backyard heap but woody stems that I can't be bothered to cut up and sometimes excess grass clippings go in there- if a compost heap has too much grass clippings, it can go weird and not decompose properly. Picked up a butternut squash plant for 89p on sale yesterday, and it's looking very unhappy. I think it's been waterlogged for a long time. Planted it out in a freshly dug over and fertilised bed, what are the chances it will perk up?
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May 30, 2010 19:17
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Anubis posted:The problem I have with those places (because my city has one itself) is that people put literally everything imaginable in their yard bins. Poison ivy and oak along with tons of seeds of weeds get mixed in with pesticides and poisonous fertilizers that are used on the over chemically treated grass cuttings which just leads to potential problems. In Berkeley, CA where I pick up sometimes they test theirs and certify that it's safe. How...I don't know, but that's what they tell us
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May 31, 2010 00:56
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The neighbors have caught on and have started watching for when I go out to the garden and then call me over to talk when I come back with mounds of strawberries. All the good will might make up for my lack of grass trimming and the number of weeds I ignore in my lawn. 
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Jun 1, 2010 03:01
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I have a pepper plant that's starting to get some tiny fruit on it. I've noticed that the edges of some of the leaves are starting to curl upwards though, and I've noticed some tiny black gnat-like insects on some of the leaves. Are these thrips? Does the old dish soap solution spray work ok on these guys, and will that be safe for eating later? I've seen a couple of aphids as well, but only a tiny amount.
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Jun 1, 2010 16:49
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stubblyhead posted:I have a pepper plant that's starting to get some tiny fruit on it. I've noticed that the edges of some of the leaves are starting to curl upwards though, and I've noticed some tiny black gnat-like insects on some of the leaves. Are these thrips? Does the old dish soap solution spray work ok on these guys, and will that be safe for eating later? I've seen a couple of aphids as well, but only a tiny amount. I can't ID the bugs but I can promise that the dish soap solution is perfectly safe, despite what "A Christmas Story" might have you believe.
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Jun 2, 2010 17:08
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I was so pissed off when I went outside to check on my plants to find that something has been devouring my broccoli plant. I immediately sprayed a dish soup solution on it and then went online to find out what it is. I think I have cabbage moth eggs. I'm so pissed. Anyone else have any experience with dealing with these guys? I've read online that some people have had luck with spraying a garlic mixture on them, some say put loose flour on wet leaves and others recommend a dusting of BT, I believe it was called. I'm looking for whatever works best while still being cost effective. In a better note... My zucchini is going nuts. I have big beautiful yellow flowers coming along and I can already tell I'm going to be over my head in the delicious veggie. I can't wait to make bread and stir fry with it.
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Jun 3, 2010 19:32
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Any idea what happened to my peppers? Yesterday they were fine, but today it looks like something cut a bunch of the leaf stems. What is weird is that it doesn't look like the leaves were eaten or anything, just pointlessly sliced off. I searched around all the plants, but could not find much.  I only found this guy and another sorta similar beetle thing.  Here are some of the leaves that were sliced off.  This is a closer view of two cuts. This is my first time growing anything, so I have no idea if it even is a bug.
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Jun 4, 2010 00:18
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SirBoobsALot posted:Any idea what happened to my peppers? Yesterday they were fine, but today it looks like something cut a bunch of the leaf stems. What is weird is that it doesn't look like the leaves were eaten or anything, just pointlessly sliced off. I searched around all the plants, but could not find much. I am new to veggie gardening so I don't have an answer for you, but darned if that isn't a cute little bug.  Those sliced leaves are bizarre.Well, it appears my rookie mistake was to plant too close together. My planter is a bit tangled, but flowering madly. Tomatoes, peppers, and beans are doing well. I only planted one zucchini and 2 squashes but they are taking over everything. I also had a couple of cucumber plants that have gone nowhere. They've grown maybe an inch after being transplanted 6 weeks ago. Oh, well. Here's my garden: one big planter.  This is peeking under the tomato canopy. Besides the visible yellow flowers all those little buds equal dozens of potential fruit.  Click here for the full 720x540 image. I planted the squash on a hill in one corner of the planter, zucchini in the other corner, the third on a hill 1/3 of the way down. All meshing tangling together.  Click here for the full 720x540 image. I realize I'm stuck for the duration, I just try to keep on top of the tomato pruning and try to train them up and away from the peppers so they can get some sun. Next year I'm just going to have to make more planters since I have a cement back yard.
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Jun 4, 2010 01:05
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SirBoobsALot posted:
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Jun 4, 2010 04:43
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Agustin Cienfuegos posted:I always forget about this thread, but as a gardener for several years now it is always interesting to read. Here's some of the harvest from yesterday, garden is located in Hays County, Texas, near Austin. Do you know what varieties of plum, pear, and grape you've planted? I live in Austin and would be interested in hearing about your experience with the fruit (and seeing photos!) I have fig, lemon, lime and tangerine trees, and would like to start adding other fruits.
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Jun 4, 2010 15:32
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And thus began the 2010 battle of the slugs. I swear to god these things are the bane of my existence.
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Jun 4, 2010 15:39
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MarshallX posted:And thus began the 2010 battle of the slugs. A few words of advice for you, my fellow slug hater. -Tesco value lager in ice cream tubs. Drown them to hell. -Slug killer that's certified for organic use? Hell yes. I don't know if you can get this where you are, but it's a lifesaver for me in soggy old England: Growing Success Advanced Slug Killer. I have a wildlife friendly garden and since using this the amount of birds and hedgehogs in my garden has actually increased. -Hit them hard and hit them fast. I put beer traps and pellets out a week before I sowed any seeds or planted anything out. Kill them at the start of spring before their numbers have a chance to grow. This year I've direct sown salad mix and not seen a trace of slug damage. I sprinkle a few more pellets over about once a month but I don't need to now it's summer. My pea plant has it's first flower! I'm so happy! This is also my first year growing Brussel Sprouts, and my first year growing brassicas at all so I'm pleased with their progress and resilience. I'm not so pleased with the cat digging in my freshly sown Mooli patch. Boo.
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Jun 4, 2010 18:39
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Last year I had a slug problem too, so I went to a nearby park with a pond in the spring, and scooped up a few toad tadpoles. The kids kept them in their room and fed them goldfish flakes until they grew into tiny toads, and then we set them free in the garden. This year I haven't seen any slugs in my beer bowls, and I haven't had any slug damage either. I even ran into one of the toads about a month ago, he was about the size of a golf ball now (they were about penny-sized when they went into the garden). I've actually considered getting a few more tadpoles this year in order to get my garden fully inundated with toads, but then I run the risk that the bigger toads will just eat the babies.
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Jun 4, 2010 19:25
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madlilnerd posted:A few words of advice for you, my fellow slug hater. I spread out 1/4 of a bag of Slug-B-gone which is Organic slug killer. Hopefully that takes care of it.
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Jun 4, 2010 19:51
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I'm a bit of a novice gardener here (second year of gardening), but I've been rather successful except for two things: Squirrels and chipmunks. They've mainly been munching on my strawberries, taking the occasional nibble from them and leaving the rest to rot, but they're also trampling my onion plants and just in general digging through my garden. What's a safe and humane way of getting rid of them/keeping them away from my garden? I'd prefer not to kill or poison them. Fencing is an option, but the garden is large enough to where it might be a bit expensive. Nets(?) may not work so well on strawberry plants as they do on blueberry bushes, so I'm really at a loss here. Any ideas?
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Jun 4, 2010 22:53
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invisiblelantern posted:I'm a bit of a novice gardener here (second year of gardening), but I've been rather successful except for two things: Depends a little on how much you're willing to invest in this. If you don't mind dropping a few bucks, buy a havahart trap. They come in all different sizes, and I'm pretty sure they make one for small animals. They don't harm the animal in any way, so you could trap them and release in a park or something. That may or may not be legal where you live, so either check local laws or do it under cover of darkness. There may be enough around to make that impractical though; depends on what the population is like. Alternatively, I saw some stuff at the hardware store the other day that is supposed to keep animals away from certain areas; I think it was a wintergreen/cayenne concoction. Basically spread it around your garden area and hopefully the critters will learn pretty quickly that the goodies just aren't worth the trouble. However, if you have dogs or cats they may get a face full of pepper as well.
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Jun 4, 2010 23:44
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This is more of a houseplant question than a gardening question, hope that's ok. A friend gave me a neat little container with some ivy in it as a gift. I've had it for a couple weeks and it seems happy, but I was looking at it tonight and I noticed that what looks like one solid mass of ivy is actually 3 separate plants: Do I need to worry about these guys crowding each other? Should they go in separate pots?
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Jun 5, 2010 10:08
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a handful of dust posted:This is more of a houseplant question than a gardening question, hope that's ok. A friend gave me a neat little container with some ivy in it as a gift. I've had it for a couple weeks and it seems happy, but I was looking at it tonight and I noticed that what looks like one solid mass of ivy is actually 3 separate plants: Ivy is one of those plants that will thrive in almost any situation. Its quite drought tolerant so water infrequently. In fact, I'd say overwatering is the only way to kill it. So, don't worry about repotting, they'll sort themselves out.
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Jun 6, 2010 08:06
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So I'm reading Patricia Lanza's Lasagna Gardening, and I figure I'll give it a try this year. Her method basically seems like another name for sheet composting, so can I plant in this stuff right away or do I need to let it cook for a season like a regular compost pile? Do lasagna beds heat up as the stuff decays like a normal pile does? Her book says you can start planting as soon as you get the last layer in, but I made the mistake of planting with a bunch of incomplete compost one year and burned the poo poo out of my plants, rather not make that mistake again.
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Jun 7, 2010 11:49
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