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Lyz posted:Oh there's no doubt they could fly over it. I think it's too hard for them to see and they can't accurately judge where the top is, so they think it's like 5000 feet high and don't bother. Their preferred method of getting over things is to fly up to the top and perch, then fly back down. When they're right next to it it's above their heads, and if they back off it probably disappears from view. So they just don't bother trying to get over it. We had a slightly higher fence than that around our garden last year and our chickens got over it pretty easily. We have an even higher more permanent fence now with wood posts and gates and they still try their damndest to get in.I have to keep a blanket in front of one of the gates because its not quite low enough to the ground and they can squeeze underneath. Edit: even if you clipped their wings, they would probably get over it.
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Jun 11, 2011 02:20
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At least you guys don't have a jerk spaniel that apparently enjoys the taste of strawberries rooting around your garden looking for snacks! 
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Jun 11, 2011 17:54
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Before we had a good fence, our lab would get into the garden and eat all the ripe tomatoes.
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Jun 11, 2011 20:57
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I bought some basil from the grocery store, but it appears to be potted in a moist, rich potting soil. I think I've read that basil is happiest in a faster draining soil - should I repot it into some cactus/succulent soil? Or is it not really necessary?
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Jun 11, 2011 22:26
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Lyz posted:Oh there's no doubt they could fly over it. I think it's too hard for them to see and they can't accurately judge where the top is, so they think it's like 5000 feet high and don't bother. Their preferred method of getting over things is to fly up to the top and perch, then fly back down. When they're right next to it it's above their heads, and if they back off it probably disappears from view. So they just don't bother trying to get over it. Interesting Wish I could do the same with our birds. We have raised beds though and they readily hop on up and feast
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Jun 12, 2011 00:48
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polyfractal posted:I bought some basil from the grocery store, but it appears to be potted in a moist, rich potting soil. I think I've read that basil is happiest in a faster draining soil - should I repot it into some cactus/succulent soil? Or is it not really necessary? There are few plants that tolerate clay soil; most like well drained soil though. If your soil doesn't drain well, adding composted organic matter would help I wouldn't recommend succulent mix
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Jun 12, 2011 00:53
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So, I want to start growing as much of the vegetables I eat as possible in the next year or so. I'm moving to Winder, GA, next month and will have a pretty good amount of land to work with, but I'm an obsessive planner and want to be sure I know what I need to do this fall and winter to have things ready to plant by spring, and then what I need to do in the early spring to get poo poo going. I have a basic idea, but how well regarded is this, as far as gardening in Georgia is concerned? I'm way overanxious about all this, I know, but I really want it to work and I'll have the time and space to devote to it. If there's anyone in the area that wants to take my neurotic questions out of the thread to keep from making GBS threads it up with dumb questions, that would be awesome. I'm pretty much just planning on testing the soil and doing whatever needs to be done to get it ready, building fences, and starting a compost heap this summer/fall, then figuring out and ordering what seeds I want in the winter. I'm sure I'll be all up in this thread later on, especially since I want to do some ornamental gardening as well as just vegetables/fruit.
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Jun 12, 2011 23:00
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Walter Reeves is like the king of Georgia gardening. He has a radio call-in show on AM 750 and a long running column in the AJC. My mom is a horticulturist in Atlanta and has columns clipped out over the years all over her fridge.
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Jun 13, 2011 08:27
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King Skinny Pimp posted:So, I want to start growing as much of the vegetables I eat as possible in the next year or so. I'm moving to Winder, GA, next month and will have a pretty good amount of land to work with, but I'm an obsessive planner and want to be sure I know what I need to do this fall and winter to have things ready to plant by spring, and then what I need to do in the early spring to get poo poo going. I have a basic idea, but how well regarded is this, as far as gardening in Georgia is concerned? If you are moving there in a month, my advice would be do something this year. Even if you do a few tomatoes now and a salad garden when it starts to cool off. My guess is that in a month GA will still have a lot of growing season left. There is so much trial and error, and you can should read up on all you can and learn from their mistakes, but even if you do, you will still manage to make tons of newbie mistakes. If you start small this year, you will make them on a smaller scale, and you will learn if this is something you enjoy or not. You will learn how your soil works, how it drains, the weeds that you have to deal with, etc. Growing a substantial portion of the food you plan on eating is a lot of work and a huge commitment, and because we are fortunate that in this country we don’t have to do that for survival (yet), you want to make sure this is an activity that you enjoy doing. Also, don't be anxious about it!
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Jun 13, 2011 14:34
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So this past year my wife and I used pumpkins as one of the...decorations or whatever for our wedding. We'd just bought our house a couple months before, so our family gathered up the pumpkins that were left (surprisingly, a lot of people asked to take one home) and set them on our front porch. While we were off on our honeymoon, they began to fall apart and rot, and as they did they fell off the porch and behind some bushes. By the time we got home, they were pretty much a pile of mush, so we just left them. This spring, my wife tells me the bushes need to go, so I dutifully get rid of them. While doing that, I thought "hey, those look like a couple pumpkin seedlings, neat!" This is what is there now:  They're soon going to take over the entire front yard. But damnit, I'm selling loving pumpkins out of my front yard this year. What's a fair price for a pumpkin? $7-$8?
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Jun 13, 2011 19:32
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This is more of a lawn care issue than garden. I just overseeded the living half of our back yard last week and will be soon tilling and sowing the other half. Our yard is about 3750 sq. ft. (50 x 75) and that would be a bit much to water before work and twice after work to keep the soil moist all day, so I want to get a sprinkler. I don't have the water pressure for an oscillating sprinkler, and I want to make sure I can evenly water the entire area. I'm led to believe that an impulse sprinkler meets these needs (lower water pressure and large area). After looking at sprinklers online and in the store, most of them seem half-assed and cheap like a combination of plastic and metal parts, or shoddy all-metal construction. I want something that will last more than a few seasons. Somehow I can't find a single product online that doesn't have widely mixed reviews. Does anyone have a good recommendation that will fit my needs, or some better advice?
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Jun 13, 2011 20:47
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Greenhouse update! Every day there seems to be more and more grasshoppers inside the greenhouse, though that was never a problem in my garden, presumably since our yard has so many birds that it could probably qualify as a bird sanctuary. It appears that they are cautious enough not to enter the greenhouse, though, even with the door left open. This is good news for my strawberry plants, but is creating a grasshopper paradise. Today I even found a slug, which was a first for me since moving(my area averages 10 inches of rain a year, and 330 sunny days). I put it in the bird feeder, will teach it to eat my plants. Some of the plants' leaves are noticeably gnawn on, but nothing particularly damaging yet. But I worry what will happen if the pest population continues to grow. One of my neighbors has chickens, maybe I should ask if I can borrow some :P
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Jun 13, 2011 20:59
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stimpy posted:So this past year my wife and I used pumpkins as one of the...decorations or whatever for our wedding. We'd just bought our house a couple months before, so our family gathered up the pumpkins that were left (surprisingly, a lot of people asked to take one home) and set them on our front porch. While we were off on our honeymoon, they began to fall apart and rot, and as they did they fell off the porch and behind some bushes. By the time we got home, they were pretty much a pile of mush, so we just left them. This spring, my wife tells me the bushes need to go, so I dutifully get rid of them. While doing that, I thought "hey, those look like a couple pumpkin seedlings, neat!" Don’t count your eggs before they hatch. Sell your pumpkins before they ripen? What’s the correct expression here?  First thing you should have done yesterday is thin them out. Looks like you have about 30 plants all growing out of the same spot. Once you do that, you may find that as they get bigger and start flowering and fruiting, they will lose vigor. Long vined squash and pumpkins are very heavy feeders and use a lot of water. They will form roots where the nodes touch the soil, but usually lawns are too hard packed for those roots to amount to much. On a hot day, they may wilt even if growing in deep moist soil just because the roots can’t keep up (they will recover at night). But the dirt next to foundations is rarely loose or fertile enough to support something like that unless you took the time to amend and improve it. My guess is they will flower, but you will get only a handful of little runty pumpkins. That said, please prove me wrong. Wouldn’t be the first time it’s happened.  Assuming you grow big beautiful pumpkins, I would just use them and give away what you don’t need to friends and family. It’s kind of a hassle to sell 5 pumpkins, (or 2 cabbages, a dozen onions, half a pound of cherry tomatoes, etc) and I’ve found the good will and conversation you create by giving your friends, neighbors, and family fresh vegetables is worth way more than their monetary value.
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Jun 13, 2011 21:46
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King Skinny Pimp posted:moving to Barrow County I'm only on my second year of gardening (still learning), but I've lived down here for most of my life. One thing I'd recommend is hooking up some rain barrels to your gutter system. North Georgia's prone to nasty droughts lasting a few years and a lot of the counties have started to put restrictions on watering lawns and such when a drought is announced. A few years ago there was a drought and I saw some people put up signs on their property saying: "watered with lake water" so they could avoid fines.
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Jun 14, 2011 17:34
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Enigmatic Troll posted:I'm only on my second year of gardening (still learning), but I've lived down here for most of my life. One thing I'd recommend is hooking up some rain barrels to your gutter system. North Georgia's prone to nasty droughts lasting a few years and a lot of the counties have started to put restrictions on watering lawns and such when a drought is announced. A few years ago there was a drought and I saw some people put up signs on their property saying: "watered with lake water" so they could avoid fines. Oh don't worry, I'll be setting up rain barrels and collecting gray water where I can. I grew up in Georgia and only moved to Wisconsin two years ago, so I know how bad the droughts can be. I was in Athens a few years ago when that drought got really bad and they were talking about rotating cut offs of the water supply in town if it didn't get better. I want to avoid using water from the faucet for my plants as much as I can, just to save money. Zeta Taskforce, I'll definitely take your advice to not be anxious, and I'll probably try to plant some fall greens to see how the area I'm looking at for growing things fares with them as far as drainage and stuff is concerned. I grew up on a farm in middle Georgia and remember working with my mom in the garden and my dad in the fields with a lot of fondness, so I'm not too worried about whether or not I'll enjoy it. Long hours in the hot sun make beer taste better anyway, right?
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Jun 15, 2011 01:39
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Help! My tomatoes are dying! Can you tell me what the hell happened to them? Had my toms out for the first time last weekend, for two days/nights. They were brought back in and now 2 out of 8 plants are looking pale and wilted. When they were out, it was pretty hot with 8+hrs of strong sunlight and some pots were in front of a bright white wall. Could it be sunburn? Or cold-burn, cause the nights were chilly?   Please don't tell me it's some sort of disease 
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Jun 15, 2011 10:27
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It's probably just sunburn like you said. When I acclimate my plants outdoors I start with a few hours in the shade, bring em in, and gradually increase the time outside. I don't evict them from my house until a week of hardening them off, then they're good to go. Edit: Or you can use my favorite method, which is to pot em up and put them outside as soon as the seed sprouts. No hardening off needed. And speaking of eviction, I had to remove ALL my squash plants from the garden. At least the squash vine borer Let me harvest for a few weeks before destroying them. Dammit. Pluto fucked around with this message at 14:23 on Jun 15, 2011 |
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Jun 15, 2011 14:19
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I'm kind of frustrated with my pitahayas. I have a dome dish and a non-dome dish of germinated seeds. They all germinated 1 month ago and haven't grown a bit since. I checked a few and none of them have been rooting. Most of them are all green. In the last couple weeks I've noticed a tinge of green on the soil, some type of fungus it looks. The domed dish has soft soil still and the non-dome has soil that has hardened on the surface. I've tried window light, LED lights, and even putting the dishes out in the early morning before it gets hot, and I'm having no luck whatsoever to getting these plants to root. I really wanted the satisfaction of planting from seed, but I guess I'll have to go and buy a couple cuttings, then do cuttings from them as they grow.
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Jun 15, 2011 18:42
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Something I just discovered- if your tomatoes are getting the leaves ate off then go over them with a black-light on an extension cord at night. Hornworms can be very hard to spot in thick foliage during the day but the heads and stripes fluoresce so there's that.
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Jun 15, 2011 22:15
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I managed to separate my little rosemary babies. They're growing fast!! The picture I uploaded here earlier was from two weeks ago. I think I'm just going to put the plants in their own little pots, I don't want to cull any :<
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Jun 16, 2011 22:54
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Anybody else growing raspberries? My bearing canes are in various states of die-back now, having delivered their sweet, sweet payload... but it's my first bush and I don't know if it matters when I prune them off. Also I have runners sprouting in addition to my now-two-foot-tall first-year canes. 
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Jun 17, 2011 17:52
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Holy poo poo, my plants have god damned exploded in these last couple days. One of my pepper plants even has 3 peppers already! Only problem is, I planted like 4-5 zucchini plants per 1x1 square and now I need to thin them, but they're all growing strong and I don't want to have to choose 
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Jun 18, 2011 17:35
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I have half-grown apples, the courgettes and nasturtiums are blooming. So are the daffodils. Woah.
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Jun 18, 2011 22:19
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So... We had a landscaper guy out a week and a half ago to take measurements and things to give us quotes for some various work. I mentioned I'd like the irrigation reconfigured since we're ditching our grass (people who grow lawns in AZ need to be frowned at and called silly names). I guess he actually looked at our irrigation timer... and left it in the "manual" position he was using to check things. Short version: My tomatoes and peppers haven't had a drink in 10+ days and it's been 104-110 out daily with around 6% humidity. The tomatoes are rocked. Rocked proper. I doubt they'll come back. The bell peppers look wilted and mildly annoyed. The chile peppers were playing bridge and happy as clams. I think south had the bid in no-trump.
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Jun 18, 2011 23:43
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So I decided to give up on my pitahayas due to those loving gnats, so irritating. I threw the two trays outside in the sweltering AZ sun so those gnats will be burnt. I did save a few of the germinated seeds and put them in a separate dome with other veggie plants. I decided to try my hand in onions, bell peppers, and chile peppers. The onion seeds already germinated in 1-2 days. Haven't seen anything yet from the peppers. I'm going to try to grow them in pots or containers on my porch. I'll have to look for containers that can keep cool in the sun since it gets way too hot. I still don't want to give up on pitahayas entirely, so I'm going to go for a fresh start again soon.
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Jun 19, 2011 21:56
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Note for next year's garden: put down weed fabric the second the garden is tilled, before I even plant. Five rows weeded and my hands are in paiiiiiiiiiiiiiin. And I'm only about a third done. I'm starting to envy you people and your nice, compact gardens.
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Jun 20, 2011 01:45
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Due to the freaky weather we have had lately, my garden got it's start late (I plated most of everything yesterday that we had growing inside). In Ohio by now, we are generally in a dry spell, this year however we have had more rain that I know what to do with. My garden was tilled late because we couldn't even get the size tiller we needed back on the property until the rain stopped for a week or two, second after the bed finally dried and I planted the peppers I had I started raining again. So anyways, I now have my red/green/habanero peppers, broccoli, cantaloupe and corn. I built a trellis out of some small trees I cut down in the woods. And today it's raining, again.
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Jun 20, 2011 18:49
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I feel your pain, mAlfunkti0n. It's been either really wet or really hot here in Kansas. The humidity is leading to bad situations where mold and fungus grows quickly on leaves. My tomatoes just can't seem to shoot up like the normally do, there's just no vertical growth.
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Jun 20, 2011 19:03
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I went home for the weekend to see how things are going with me not looking after my garden. All of the carrots and salad greens had been devoured by slugs. I am devastated; this means another year I have failed to grow carrots. Oh and my sweetcorn is horribly stunted because of a lack of good strong sun. It's only about 20cm tall.
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Jun 20, 2011 23:18
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I am right with you other miserable bastards. Here in Oklahoma we have had a couple weeks of 105+ temperatures and nearly constant 15-20mph winds, gusting to 40-50mph. So ya, veggie garden is not handling the blast furnace treatment very well at all.
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Jun 21, 2011 03:09
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Also chiming into the "stunted growth crew". Other than my Romaine that is. I executed Operation Garden Revival today...deweeded, fertilized with two different types of fertilizer and put an entire bucket of sawdust onto the soil as organic matter in an attempt to rejuvinate the garden. I also asked my wife to water daily.
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Jun 21, 2011 03:22
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mAlfunkti0n posted:Due to the freaky weather we have had lately, my garden got it's start late (I plated most of everything yesterday that we had growing inside). In Ohio by now, we are generally in a dry spell, this year however we have had more rain that I know what to do with. My garden was tilled late because we couldn't even get the size tiller we needed back on the property until the rain stopped for a week or two, second after the bed finally dried and I planted the peppers I had I started raining again. At one point, people gardened for survival, not for fun, and I am always amazed that my ancestors didn't all starve to death.
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Jun 21, 2011 05:25
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I was actually thinking today about survival and famine foods. There's a surprising number of wild edibles (both native and introduced) that you could survive on. Hobby gardeners just tend to grow things that are fickle (but delicious) First 80 degree day of the year today. Sunflowers I think grew a foot, starting to bud out. Planted a tamarillo today, we'll see how that goes. Getting close to the first summer squash harvest
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Jun 21, 2011 06:37
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4 days ago the beans were still just a few leaves and this morning they're vining halfway up the poles. Every year I'm amazed all over again at how quickly the garden fills up. I'm more excited for this fall/next year now that I've seen what's doing well and where the sun hits. Definitely going full-on with the veg next year, and putting some actual planning into the bed layout. May 8th v. this morning:  
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Jun 21, 2011 09:36
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dwoloz posted:I was actually thinking today about survival and famine foods. There's a surprising number of wild edibles (both native and introduced) that you could survive on. Hobby gardeners just tend to grow things that are fickle (but delicious) Yeah, for what it's worth nothing has stopped my fancy potatoes from growing. I'm having a real problem keeping them buried. They are well over 2' tall but I of course have no clue how that's actually translating into a crop.
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Jun 21, 2011 14:13
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dwoloz posted:I was actually thinking today about survival and famine foods. There's a surprising number of wild edibles (both native and introduced) that you could survive on. Hobby gardeners just tend to grow things that are fickle (but delicious) Yes and no. It is true that there are lots of wild edibles. All of our vegetables started out as selections of wild edibles. They are far more hardy and robust. They also tend to be jam packed with vitamins and minerals. That said, there would be a few logistical concerns if you actually tried to survive from them. They tend not to be available during long periods of the year, and when they are, not in large enough quantities to support the population densities most parts of the world has. Hunter gathers did it because partly because they had low population densities, but also because they were hunters. If wild plants would be in short supply, wild animals really would be. The other problem is while the majority of wild edibles are very nutritious, most of them don’t have that much energy in them. People have been selecting for desirable traits for millennia. Desirable traits include more sugar and starches, higher yields, big tender leaves, big juicy fruits, and fewer compounds that the plants make to protect themselves (such plant chemicals are bitter). Since vegetable gardens have always been put in the most desirable areas, people have always weeded them, given them whatever limited irrigation and fertility that was available, we have bred plants the compared to their competitors are soft, weak and delicate. Insects and diseases love them. If you plant wheat or barley in a field and do nothing, you will probably get something. If you plant an eggplant in the middle of the field and do nothing, you will get nothing. With few exceptions, our vegetable crops have thrown their lot entirely with man, and would completely die out without us.
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Jun 21, 2011 18:20
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grumpy posted:I am right with you other miserable bastards. Hah, I hear you...I'm south of you in Dallas. I've pretty much given up on the spring garden entirely. The raised veg beds anyways...I keep my 80 bajillion containers of mostly full-sun herbs in partial/dappled shade all summer and they do fine with no special help usually. I've lost the pumpkins and canteloupes to squash bugs (and the cukes aren't doing much better but still in the beds) and had to tear them out, and the allium bed is almost empty- harvested the garlic last week (didn't turn out very big, but the flavor is amazing), all that's left now in there are some green onions and shallots. I'm planting cowpeas in the allium bed tomorrow for a green manure crop before I replant it with garlic this fall. The strawberry bed is done and just hanging in there trying to make it through the heat. The peppers are still doing surprisingly well, though not setting blossoms anymore- just have to keep em alive till it starts cooling down this fall! The tomatoes I'm just waiting for them to finish ripening what few cherries are still left on the vines before I tear em out. It'll actually be time to plant brand new transplants for a fall crop in just three weeks (I plant em out the 2nd week in July)! I took cuttings from the growing tips of my spring tomatoes (thank goodness at least *those* hadn't burnt to a crisp yet!) and rooted them in 4" pots, so hopefully I'll have transplants ready to go in 3 weeks. The newly rooted cuttings all looked pretty seedy for a day or two (no pun intended), but they're all (mostly) starting to perk back up now. I took some cuttings from my rosemary, silver-edge lavender, and lemon balm and rooted them today too, we'll see if they take. All my pots of herbs still look amazingly thick and lush. I'm just happy *something* still looks good in my garden! I lost my job this spring, so I haven't been able to do some of the stuff I wanted to this summer to expand the garden further. I really would have liked to buy shade cloth for the tomato beds this year, and I would kill for a little potting bench to have outside. A little greenhouse to extend the seasons, and maybe overwinter my more frost-sensitive herbs would *really* kick rear end, but losing my income set all my hobby projects back a bit.
Cerri fucked around with this message at 08:42 on Jun 22, 2011 |
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Jun 22, 2011 08:38
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Hello green-thumbed goons! I just moved into a house at the end of march, and am working on getting a garden set up. I planted some seeds from a veggie garden kit given to me by the in-laws (onions, peppers, tomatoes, etc.) and set it up all nice and pretty. I go outside the next day, and my dog, who has shown no interest in digging, had dug up EVERYTHING. there were huge holes in the garden, dirt everywhere, and my potted plants were spilled over. I tried my best to level things back out and kept watering in the hopes that stuff was growing, and it is, but i don't know what is what now since its been scattered about. I'm thinking about trying to re-plant them in some pots, and then re-try the garden area again. Before I do that, I have some questions for you all: Does anyone have experience keeping dogs out of gardens? What worked for you? I'm thinking I may have to get some chicken wire and posts and fence it off from her. Also, does anyone know what sort of plants would be good to grow around the beginning of summer in Louisiana? I'm sorry if this has been mentioned already, but I don't know where in the 60-some odd pages to look. I'm working my way through, though. The idea of being able to grow our own food and save money, as well as knowing what exactly is going into our food, is a big plus for us, and I'm excited to try and be just a little bit more self-sufficient than we are right now. Thanks for any tips you guys/gals can provide!
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Jun 22, 2011 21:41
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RoadVirus posted:Does anyone have experience keeping dogs out of gardens? What worked for you? I'm thinking I may have to get some chicken wire and posts and fence it off from her. The only way to keep a dog out of a garden is a fence. Even if the dog is small, it should be at least 4 feet tall. You might have to do better than chicken wire because a dog can easily wriggle under it or pull it down. Get welded fence wire instead.
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Jun 22, 2011 21:56
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It really depends on the dog. We've managed to keep our fairly large spaniel out of the garden with three lines of heavy gauge wire running between posts along the outside. He could easily get through or over it but he's fairly skittish so he avoids it. (However he got into the strawberries and developed a bit of a taste for them after some of the wire got taken down when we removed a tree so it might not work next year.) If you wanted to be safe a big heavy duty fence is your only option but it might not be a total waste to try a cheaper option first depending on your dog's personality.
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Jun 22, 2011 22:34
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