Thread: ALIPACer Gardening

Here are my first pics from this weekend


I put my seeds in to the pellets to germinate last weekend. My squash and cumbers are rearing to go, and the corn and beans are ready to plant. The tomatoes and watermelon are taking longer.

Left to Right
Row 1 Watermelons, no sign of sprouts
Row 2: Lettuce ready to plant
Row 3: Beans ready to plant
Rows 4-5 Tomatoes just starting to peek out
Rows 6-8 Corn ready to plant
Rows 9-10 Squash Ready to plant
Rows 11-2 Cucumbers ready to plant






Last year, I was off to a great start on a 9 by 50ft plot but the weeds took over and ran the garden into the ground.

This year I have double tilled the soil to punch the weeds back and made the garden 9 by 25.



I have covered my garden plot with a weed resistant fabric by Dupont. It was hard to make it look neat because of my arrangement of mounds and rows. Let's hope this stuff stops the weeds!

My whole backyard is fenced in so I do not have to worry about deer.

The yard is patrolled by one cat and one hound to take care of moles and rodents.

All I should have to worry about is birds and bugs.

W

Looks like lots of cucumbers. Those jiffy planters are fine, but they seem to dry up real fast. I just use drink cups and put two - 4 seed in each one for the plants.

Originally Posted by jp_48504

Looks like lots of cucumbers. Those jiffy planters are fine, but they seem to dry up real fast. I just use drink cups and put two - 4 seed in each one for the plants.

I germinated my seeds in the kit I bought last year from Lowes.

In the picture above, the clear plastic dome top is removed because my sprouts were so big they were pushing the top off.

In the kit, you pour water on the peat pellets until they expand. Then you put the seeds in and cover it and plug it in. A heating pad keeps the temp in the geranium just a little higher than the outside temperature.

The dome keeps the water in and creates a rain effect inside the kid to keep the water circulating around the seeds and they sprout fast!

W

Vegetables are good but what about to try something of higher nutritional values? After all it looks like there will be problems with rice and possibly corn and wheat crop this year so the things could turn nasty.

What about topinambur/Jerusalem artichoke?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerusalem_artichoke

With yield of up to 100 tonnes / hectare whole family could live from garden as shown on Williams photos for the whole year.

Sweet potatoes / batatas are another interesting choice:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sweet_potato

Another tip could be "Erdmandel": high yields, high nutritious value, tastes like almond and contains a lot of proteins. However it could be a bit aggressive as a weed.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyperus_esculentus

And thats all in addition to good old potatoes.

Why doesn't my Wisteria bloom?

There are two different plants together. One plant is one of three surviving saplings from a vacant lot that I transplanted and the other is from the garden center. Some thing has to be wrong with the soil or a nutrient problem, since the plants are unrelated. They are several years old and I have not cut them back because I thought they had to bloom on old wood.

Y'all are so funny about the germtion. I just stick seeds in the dirt and the sprout, grow and bloom but don't produce. Must be that brown thumb.

Dixie

Originally Posted by Dixie

Why doesn't my Wisteria bloom?

There are two different plants together. One plant is one of three surviving saplings from a vacant lot that I transplanted and the other is from the garden center. Some thing has to be wrong with the soil or a nutrient problem, since the plants are unrelated. They are several years old and I have not cut them back because I thought they had to bloom on old wood.

Y'all are so funny about the germation. I just stick seeds in the dirt and the sprout, grow and bloom but don't produce. Must be that brown thumb.

Dixie

Germinating is a pain the butt, but there are benefits.

One, it gives your seeds a head start on the weeds if you till again just before planting.

Two, germinating allows you to avoid defective seeds and select the ones that show the most promising growth for your garden while throwing out the runts.

Three, you get to play with little peat pellets and a germinater for fun lol

W

Originally Posted by ALIPAC

Here are my first pics from this weekend



I put my seeds in to the pellets to germinate last weekend. My squash and cumbers are rearing to go, and the corn and beans are ready to plant. The tomatoes and watermelon are taking longer.

Left to Right
Row 1 Watermelons, no sign of sprouts
Row 2: Lettuce ready to plant
Row 3: Beans ready to plant
Rows 4-5 Tomatoes just starting to peek out
Rows 6-8 Corn ready to plant
Rows 9-10 Squash Ready to plant
Rows 11-2 Cucumbers ready to plant




Last year, I was off to a great start on a 9 by 50ft plot but the weeds took over and ran the garden into the ground.

This year I have double tilled the soil to punch the weeds back and made the garden 9 by 25.



I have covered my garden plot with a weed resistant fabric by Dupont. It was hard to make it look neat because of my arrangement of mounds and rows. Let's hope this stuff stops the weeds!

My whole backyard is fenced in so I do not have to worry about deer.

The yard is patrolled by one cat and one hound to take care of moles and rodents.

All I should have to worry about is birds and bugs.

W

WOW great job on the garden, W!

For those of us unable to plant a garden, they can try LocalHarvest.org they can find CSA's, and other valuable information on getting great local food and other local products that are good for you and the environment.

W,
Envious of your backyard scenery, it's so green!!!

Planted my tomato seeds today. Big whoopey wow eh?

But do have beautiful cut roses in my home now. And I've put some coffee grounds under one rose bush so far.

That looks very nice William and a good idea to put the weed blocker down.

Thanks for the view and look forward to more pictures as it grows.

Psalm 91