Gardening Q's and A's

[rubywillow]

Gardening Q's and A's

Come on over, Sunbeam. Tonight I'm making a small pork tenderloin seasoned with lemon and dill, turnip greens, butter beans, stewed tomatoes and okra, cornbread, a red cabbage coleslaw with a kick, and one of those frightening supermarket tomatoes. I'm making myself hungry.

[Sunbeam]

Gardening Q's and A's

Tomatoes grown in garbage can

I have mentioned that those upside down tomato things will not produce many tomatoes, because tomato plants have large root systems, needed to absorb lots of water. This will really work, but I would put in just one plant:

Growing Tomatoes in Cans

[southernbelle47]

Gardening Q's and A's

This thread makes me happy!
We get info from our The Alabama Cooperative Extension System.
I think every area has one that will help you in your zone.
We have tried a little of everything here.
There are 10'x10' compost bins of horse poo and cotton mill "trash" and bulk mulch.
We also have two 3'x3' compost bins for kitchen waste.. Just no grease bones or meat. We layer kitchen waste with shredded paper and a little soil. The Red worms then procede to "Worms Eat My Garbage"(book Goggle this) and make me wonderful worm poo!
I also like "Mother Earth News "and get it here every month. "Organic Gardening" is the next favorite.....
You guys are doing a great job!
I love the enthusiasm of newbie gardeners!!
I just gave my son and his wife my copy of
"The Victory Garden".....They have just started out with two raised beds and some blueberry plants..
If anyone would like, I'll share some pictures . Just PM me your email.
Happy "dirt" everyone!!
:hNancy
ps
We have onions, beets, cabbage, garlic, lettuce, carrots, spinach, potatoes and tomatoes in the ground. Pepper plants are still indoors until the end of May. April 15th is our usual do not freeze date here!!

[Sunbeam]

Gardening Q's and A's

SouthernNancy,
It isn't necessary to look up your local cooperative extension. All of their information is now linked, using the search engine at extension.org. Now it is easier to find information from other states with climates similar to yours. Anyone in any state gains access the same way.

[rubywillow]

Gardening Q's and A's

southernbelle47;592154 wrote: This thread makes me happy!
We get info from our The Alabama Cooperative Extension System.
I think every area has one that will help you in your zone.
We have tried a little of everything here.
There are 10'x10' compost bins of horse poo and cotton mill "trash" and bulk mulch.
We also have two 3'x3' compost bins for kitchen waste.. Just no grease bones or meat. We layer kitchen waste with shredded paper and a little soil. The Red worms then procede to "Worms Eat My Garbage"(book Goggle this) and make me wonderful worm poo!
I also like "Mother Earth News "and get it here every month. "Organic Gardening" is the next favorite.....
You guys are doing a great job!
I love the enthusiasm of newbie gardeners!!
I just gave my son and his wife my copy of
"The Victory Garden".....They have just started out with two raised beds and some blueberry plants..
If anyone would like, I'll share some pictures . Just PM me your email.
Happy "dirt" everyone!!
:hNancy
ps
We have onions, beets, cabbage, garlic, lettuce, carrots, spinach, potatoes and tomatoes in the ground. Pepper plants are still indoors until the end of May. April 15th is our usual do not freeze date here!!

Oh, you said the magic words - Mother Earth News!!!! We started reading them in the 70's (believe me, I'm nostaligic for those hippie/back to earth days lately). You sound right on track with my thinking. Look forward to hearing more about your garden!
PS: Hubs made me a compost bin yest. from a 50#gal barrell with a little door to dump stuff in, and on a "spit" between 2 trees, just for my kitchen waste. Even painted it GREEN!

[Doggygirl]

Gardening Q's and A's

ACCKKK!! I had a long post going and had to leave to do something else all afternoon and now it's GONE!! Just like THAT!! I wish I could figure out how that post disappeared so I could try the same technique in the not-so-distant-future on weeds.

So the cliff note version....

to all who giggled over the Mr. D gardening pics. (oh if only I could get him to do other "my stuff!")

Evie the hydroponic gardening sounds very interesting. I'm looking forward to reading your updates about that.

I am SO GLAD to have this lady as my new best friend at the garden center. Yesterday she hooked me up with seeds I can plant the next nice day (carrots, radishes, beets, turnips, leaf lettuces, spinach, and some flowers for cutting and bringing in the house). I'm too late for nearly everything I would like to have started indoors from seed, but since I have a grow light now she did hook me up with 3 kinds of flowers and also basil and parsley to see if I can get that going. And just for grins Mr. Doggy dug out some VERY old seeds today that I put in some dirt and under the light just for fun. Garden Lady also set me up with some little plants to put in the ground on the next nice day - brussel sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, brocolli and onions (red & yellow!).

Our soil is a little on the clay side here, so I also got some sand today that Mr. Doggy is going to mix into the soil in one corner especially for the carrots, radishes, and possibly some of the other root things i.e. turnips.

Here are some new questions:

Does anyone use newspapers or cardboard over the ground in between the rows? This supposedly helps with weed control. Mr. Doggy says one of our neighbors who has since moved away used to do that. Any pros and cons? In the interest of avoiding toxins as much as possible, does newspaper ink poison the food?

Does anyone have suggestions for a small stool or any knee protection - anything to make getting down to dirt level as easy as possible on the old spine and the old joints? (I don't think future gardening days will be as lucky as the first one with Mr. Doggy carrying the load LOL!)

I'm sure I will have many many many more questions. For now I'm waiting for that next nice day which will hopefully be tomorrow or Thursday, and I'm waiting to see if anything under my light sprouts!

Thanks for all your help. This is an awesome thread!

DG = Dummy Gardener. Or Domestic Godess (in training)

[rubywillow]

Gardening Q's and A's

DG, I use shredded newspaper, cardboard, etc. Works wonderfully for me! Please send me you flower people!!!! I'll pay their air fare!!! LOL

[Sunbeam]

Gardening Q's and A's

DG, take a look at this kneeling stool with padding for your knees. This company also has some great knee pads, but the handles on the stool make it easier to get up and down. I have had mine for 15 years.

I have purchased many tools from Lee Valley Tools. Great quality for a reasonable price (for the quality), great customer service. I love tools, they make my work easier. I have more tools than most gardeners I know.

Folding Kneeler Stool & Tool Holder - Lee Valley Tools

Newspaper ink is all soy-based now, I'm told, so it is perfectly safe.

[rubywillow]

Gardening Q's and A's

I have 2 little stools I bought at Lowe's. They look like a tractor seat on a post, with a round, saucer-shaped bottom. I LOVE them. You can swivel, rock, and sit in one place. I found a cover on sale with a padded seat and pocekts down each side to hold my firepower (spades, trowels, etc. LOL). I can sit in one place and work all the way 'round weeding, planting, etc. Don't know the name, but will look for it if your interested.

[DeeBee]

Gardening Q's and A's

:bump:

[southernbelle47]

Gardening Q's and A's

Thank goodness EVERYTHING is planted!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
We've had great salads all week and more to come....
We got some much needed rain in the south today.
Everything is on drip!
The tomatoes and cabbage, English peas, peppers, onions look great! The potatoes are growning like crazy!
Soybeans and peanuts and peas and Fordhook lima beans should sprout soon.
The sunflowers are up!
The deer ate alot of my beets but I stoped them with mesh!!
Yeah.........and the garlic is doing good too!
Happy gardening all!

[Sunbeam]

Gardening Q's and A's

More to Life,
I only get windy days that don't do that much damage. What about a burlap wall to break the wind?

I put in a couple of tomato plants this weekend, protected by Wall o Water because our normal planting time is the end of May. I planted a variety called 4th of July, so maybe between the variety and protective device, I will have tomatoes at least before Aug 1.

SouthernNancy, I am currently envious of all you have already growing, but would not relish hotter and longer summers.

[CS04]

Gardening Q's and A's

This is a big thread, so cannot read all the pages right now. We were always avid gardeners till baby came along and it was really hard, but this year we want to get back into it. We do loads of herbs close to the house, and vegetables out back -- tomatoes being the favorite of course.

Maybe we should have a Garden Forum!

[Rags]

Gardening Q's and A's

Hi CS,

I suggested about the 3rd page of this thread that we set up a gardening forum, but no-one replied to me so I didn't PM RJ or Codemonkey.
I really think a separate foreum would be good so we can separate and categorise our interests otherwise this thread will just get too big for anyone to find anything.

[Sunbeam]

Gardening Q's and A's

I guess my thought is that this thread is just for current gardening thoughts, quick questions. A conversation starter, like so many other threads. If anyone wanted to look up a specific topic, they should go to gardenweb.com. So I don't see the need for a spearate section, don't plant to pursue that. If someone else sees that need wants to explore it, they could.