Thread: ALIPACer Gardening

Fellow ALIPACers,

I have recently discovered that many of us share the hobby of gardening, so we have agreed to make this sticky post in the Other Topics section.

This will be my second year attempt at gardening. I was off to a great start last year when the weeds took over my ambitious project.

Here we will post pictures, progress reports, questions, victories, and losses on our gardens for 2008.

I'm calling mine "William's Victory Garden"

I have tilled my garden area and my seeds are germinating, I will post some pictures here soon.

This year I plan to use Dupont weed blocking material. I almost tried Hay Bale gardening which is a new thing that is catching on, but I did not want to invest $100 in Hay Bales as one of the goals of my garden is to provide healthy food while saving some money.

If you are into gardening, feel free to make a post here to reserve an area where you can post your pictures near the TOP of this discussion.

Let's share notes.

W

Ok, you talked me into it. I'll try to make something survive and produce this year. I have a high kill rate.

I do have some nice looking peas, brussel sprouts and lettuce left over from last fall.

Dixie

Tomatoes -

I do tomatoes and have had good luck in the last couple years.

Here's some of my basic methodology which you should borrow from or disregard as appropriate:

1. Find a location around your place that will achieve significant afternoon sun. (facing west roughly)

2. Make yourself a planter box about 1' wide x 6-8' long. It should be about 12-14" high. I had some leftover cedar boards from something a few years ago, so I put those to work to make my own.

3. Buy your starter plants (pretty soon, for me once the weather warms up a bit). I buy them with the idea they will be spaced no closer than about 1 foot apart from another. So for the planter box above, I will place probably 4 plants in it.

4. Fill the planter box in #2 above.
Place a thin layer of rocks or gravel on the very bottom of planter box. I use relatively large river (smoothed) rocks. Then, fill the rest of the box with potting soil (you'll need 2-3 big bags for sure).

5. Plant the starter plants. Use a knife to scrape along the edges of the box/plastic base, then turn upside down and hold the plant as it slides up and out of the planted base. Place it pre-dug spaces ('holes') in your planter box so that they are about the same level as the surface of the planting soil, pat them down to give some stability. Then add just a little more potting soil to fully cover the roots of newly planted tomato starter.

(Note: Individual planting [not using the box] can work fine too. Just be sure the space is big enough)

Oh second follow up note here: 'to cage or not to cage'? I use cages, the kind of about 36" high and about 8" in diameter at the base (narrow end).
The larger plants seem to do well with additional support and keep them from damage from winds and such.

6. Water every day (well, if you live in a wet-summer climate, you probably won't have to - adjust for your local conditions as appropriate).
I tend to water early in the morning and late in the evening. (There is less loss to evapotranspiration with cooler relative temperatures). I water by hose for about 2-3 minutes at each time.

7. Add fertilizer (what is commonly labeled 'Tomato Food' by many manufacturers of garden/plant chemicals) about once every week or so.

A lot of people that grow their own, also can learn the trick of picking their green ones late in the growing season, and then ripening them indoors (usually in a cool, dry and dark location - such as a basement in a box - this works pretty well). I had tomatoes from July through December last year doing that.

Oh yeah, I usually plant a variety of tomato types: large beefsteak type, small yellow pear tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, and one or two others as well.

Have Fun and Good Luck.

Disclaimer: Your experience and methods may vary. The methods outlined above were borrowed heavily from a distant relative with a good deal of expertise on the subject.

Note for W and others: Using the planter box method, weeds and other intruders become fairly infrequent. Just hand weed if some appear. Use herbicides with great caution.

Good fun gardening. I have had a garden each year for about 15 years and it really saves a lot of money and time and it gives one a great sense of accomplishment. No more running to the store for dinner..just step outside and pick your selections. I find the weed block works for me and also that building up the furrows of soil and having good drainage troughs helps also. If you are prone to rabbits groundhogs deer etc as I am I always plant some goodies out back near the woods of my property so they have their own eats. They never bother mine and everyone benefits. Best of luck to you W and everyone. Happy growing

Gardening! One of my very favorite things!

I start my tomatoes and peppers inside, usually in Feb. or early March. If you get heirloom seeds instead of hybrids, you can save some for next years planting. Good source for heirloom seeds and organic potatoes is heirloomacresseeds dot com.

Also, if you have groundhog, rabbit or deer problems, grind up a couple handfuls of dried cayenne peppers, pour a couple gallons of boiling water over them, let it set overnight. Put this concoction into a garden sprayer and spray the perimeter of your garden. You can even spray a bit on some plants (before they bear) to keep pests from eating them to the ground.

Don't let the weeds discourage you. If you use the same spot every year, eventually you will become mostly weed free. If you want to save some $ in your flower beds- instead of investing in weed block just spread layers of newsprint, wet it down and cover with mulch. Works just as good as expensive weed block. For veggie gardens, running the tiller between rows periodically will help loosen weed roots while allowing the soil some air. Don't put weeds in your compost pile!

If you heat with a fireplace or woodstove, dump some of the ash in your garden spot during the winter. Work the ash into the soil when you till in the spring.

Strawberries and roses LOVE used dried coffee grounds and banana peels! I dump some into my veggie garden as well.

I have a TON of canning recipes I will be thrilled to share with anyone interested!

I'm with you....except I can't say it's a beloved hobby. I'm trying to get back to some basics of skills long gone for many of us. My mom and dad gardened and I hate to say I didn't inherit the green thumb. I've been known to plant seeds and pulled the sprouts out instead of the weeds. coz I didn't know the difference. So...I moved on to planting the actual plant so I could tell the difference. Last year I had a pretty good garden.....nothing to totally brag about because it wasn't big enough to do any serious canning.....I was just proud something grew, grew enough to share with neighbors and dabbled in jelly making. Even managed to feed a couple familys of neighborhood rabbits.

Last year I thought I would have to name it a memorial garden for my neighbor since he went in for emergency triple-by-pass the evening after he tilled my garden for me. The dirt here is hard as rock and my dads tiller is a monster and I just couldn't do it myself. Fortunatly he's fine now and my garden grew.

This year I've started some seeds indoors...been out trying to dig the garden up myself this time. Gonna try something new this year.....growing my tomatoes and such up-side-down from buckets. They have those topsy turvy things but I'm going to try the buckets like I saw in Nebraska. So....I'm building my stand to hang my buckets from today and have to figure out how to cut holes in the bottom of the buckets I have before heading out to get more. So basicly I'm "playing" at gardening.

Another venture I'm thinking of trying is rain barrels because of constant water restrictions and such. Hate to get it going just to watch it die. Remember us having a wooden one when I was little but my concern is mosquitoes and how to prevent that problem. Plus something cheaper than the 200 dollar ones I've seen in magazines. Any suggestions with that idea would be helpful.

Also anything to deter rabbits. They ate all the tops off my onions and pepper plants and a few other things.....just hate to be mean coz they are so darned cute! I put up fencing last year and they jumped right through it. Figured it was enough to escape the dog without too much more....but I guess it wasn't.

Living in the city and working in a little 4x6 cubicle I always dreamed of gardening. Now I live on an acre in the country. First year I spent hours getting rid of weeds, gopher's and ground squirrels. Being my first garden I over did it and supplied everyone I knew and didn't know with produce.

My roses and flowers all look great, the only problem I have run into is that the gophers and ground squirrels really liked my progress and have invited every rodent in the county to move in. It is so disheartening to see a plant I have tended so well; all of sudden sink into the ground. Everywhere I go on the property you tend to sink into a gopher hole. They have so many tunnels that I tease my husband that someday our house is going to simply sink into the ground.

Anyone have any suggestions how to get rid of ground squirrels and gophers? Something that won't hurt our dogs.

monterreysherry wrote:

Anyone have any suggestions how to get rid of ground squirrels and gophers? Something that won't hurt our dogs.[/quote]

Chew lotsa bubble gum and put it into the holes.. Flood the tunnels w/water to find entry points, then spray the cayenne pepper concoction in there. Not a 100% cure BUT it does help. Sometimes they find another person's yard to burrow in

Well I guess Americans still do these jobs eh!!

Harvesting the fruits of your hard work is so well worth it, I just finished off the Tamatoes I canned last year (36 jars) ,and the salsa is long gone..."Phred" last year I used all the green tamatoes at the end of the season that did not have time to rippen and made green salsa, my kids thought it was the greatest.

I also canned my Jalapeno's and several other kinds of peppers that I roasted and froze. I canned carrots, green beens, corn. I had lettuce, onions and this year am going to have cabbage and try my hand at sour kraut

I have a huge raised bed that we used fence posts for the border, it turned out great!!

The deer can not get in my back yard but they love my front yard, You don't dare feed them here or they bring all of their relatives , boy howdy then you have big problems.....so in my flower gardens in the front I try to plant what they don't eat, but just the other morning my neighbor said their were 3 deer munching on something out there left from last year.

I am excited to get started it is so rewarding but still alittle cold here yet so just cleaning flower beds cutting and pruning bushes and getting things ready. Can't wait!!!

Originally Posted by florgal

monterreysherry wrote:

Anyone have any suggestions how to get rid of ground squirrels and gophers? Something that won't hurt our dogs.

Chew lotsa bubble gum and put it into the holes.. Flood the tunnels w/water to find entry points, then spray the cayenne pepper concoction in there. Not a 100% cure BUT it does help. Sometimes they find another person's yard to burrow in

Easy solution to your problem with squirrels and gophers.



A not so easy solution to your gopher problem found at this link...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bv87T1CQF8E

and

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=etpHKueh ... re=related


W