***The Official 2014 Gardening Thread***

[dmahurin]

So what is everyone planting this year? Trying anything new or different? I've already got potatoes in the ground and I'm trying an herb garden this year. I've started cilantro, oregano, and basil in planter pots from seed and will transfer to a 55 gallon drum cut in half length wise and laid on its side with drain holes.

Overall I'm going with tomatoes, green beans, peppers(jalapeño/bell), broccoli, lettuce, and the aforementioned potatoes.

[Iowanian]

Deer and varmints usually clean up mine.
I've toyed with running a temp electric fence around my fruit trees and running some chickens in there when fruit is falling, and also to keep deer from pillaging the low hanging fruit.

The Amish are probably another story, I caught them twice last year. Sonnabitches.

My peaches and apples have been gangbusters 2 of 3 years.

[MOhillbilly]

Originally Posted by Iowanian

Any idea how close they have to be? The fence row of the neighbors across the road has cedar trees. They'd probably be 100' at the closest?

A lot of my apples had spots on them last year. It was black or greenish and would rub off in your hands when you handle them. I'm assuming it's mold?

Last fall I had the entire preschool from our local district out for a farm day, and we picked apples, pulped them and I pressed cider for them. I had just gotten a new press and used it for the first time in front of about 75 preschool kids. Bold move I know.

The wife does a pretty good job of canning tomato sauce, pizza/spaghetti sauce. We make apple sauce and can grape juice for the kids in addition to canning jam. I'd like to do more of that as things slow down, especially as we get more fruit in 3-4 years.

We also need to figure out pickling and fermented stuff.

Time is my problem, not desire.

400ft dude. I have the same problem. Rust is a fungus. Copper sulfate is supposed to help treat it but I've never used it.
Fermenting is so easy it's silly. Caldwells starting culture is your friend in fermentation.

[Fire Me Boy!]

So... if I do some container gardening with perennial herbs - large containers, like small tree planters or half oak barrels - do I need to bring them inside during the winter? The basil, thyme, oregano, and rosemary have survived winter in the ground before, but I don't know about the containers. I know I won't get a crop when it's cold, but just wondering if it'd kill anything.

Seriously, folks, I've got a black thumb. Any help here is appreciated.

[Buehler445]

Originally Posted by Fire Me Boy!

Nothing I can do to not replant ('cause that ain't happening)? I can pull the pine straw, so is there nothing I can do fertilizer- or chemical-wise to fix?

Go the hardware and see if they can get anything to raise your soil pH. In ag (where it is required, not here) they spread gypsum. There might be some calcium type products that would help. I wouldn't put more manure down. It could be too much N and it will get hot on you and kill your stuff.

Originally Posted by Iowanian

I have about 10 mature fruit trees(apples, pears, peaches) and 4 grape vines.
I planted 15 fruit trees(from Stark Bros in MO) apple, peach, pear, plum, cherry, apricot(the fruit, not the beemer).

I'm interested in people with big brains on fruit trees and the best thing I can do for the new ones, and how to address the "rust" on the leaves of a peach and adjacent apple tree.

I'm thinking pretty hard about planting 4 more grape vines, and adding a couple of blueberry and raspberry bushes.

I'm considering planting between 5-15 acres of fruit trees to start a walk in orchard, but with my work schedule I'm not sure I can put the time into them for proper pruning etc.

We have a decent sized garden, and I generally scoop a couple of tons of compost from a large pile we have scraped up from a former cattle lot, and then till that in. I've not done much with herbs, but I'd like to do at least some of the basics, garlic etc. I'd also like to start a strawberry bed, but they're a pain in the butt.

Most of the rust around here is fungal. There should be a fairly innocuous fungicide that can help. Wife had some ortho stuff she put on our tree. It's pretty close to all the same, if you could get a half gallon from a farmer buddy that is running it on his corn, you could get it done cheaper

Originally Posted by Iowanian

Deer and varmints usually clean up mine.
I've toyed with running a temp electric fence around my fruit trees and running some chickens in there when fruit is falling, and also to keep deer from pillaging the low hanging fruit.

The Amish are probably another story, I caught them twice last year. Sonnabitches.

My peaches and apples have been gangbusters 2 of 3 years.

Get ready to rebuild your fence if you put it up. We put some crappy fence around our grain bags, and you get to rebuild it 5 or 10 times before they get the picture.

Originally Posted by Fire Me Boy!

So... if I do some container gardening with perennial herbs - large containers, like small tree planters or half oak barrels - do I need to bring them inside during the winter? The basil, thyme, oregano, and rosemary have survived winter in the ground before, but I don't know about the containers. I know I won't get a crop when it's cold, but just wondering if it'd kill anything.

Seriously, folks, I've got a black thumb. Any help here is appreciated.

I don't remember where you are at now, but I probably would. A container with side exposure will make the soil temperature lower than in the ground.

[Fire Me Boy!]

Originally Posted by Buehler445

I don't remember where you are at now, but I probably would. A container with side exposure will make the soil temperature lower than in the ground.

Central Alabama. It gets actually below freezing maybe a few times a year at most, and never for very long.

If I used a thick stone planter, would it absorb enough heat in the daytime to keep it warm enough to get through the few nights that the temp actually dips below freezing?

[Buehler445]

Originally Posted by Fire Me Boy!

Central Alabama. It gets actually below freezing maybe a few times a year at most, and never for very long.

If I used a thick stone planter, would it absorb enough heat in the daytime to keep it warm enough to get through the few nights that the temp actually dips below freezing?

You'd probably be ok in Alabama but I wouldn't risk it. What you can do is get a soil thermometer and leave an empty planter out.

I don't know what terminal temperatures are for the crops your asking about, but soil thermometers are cheap and an easy way to see how much variability you have.

If you've never used one, just stick it in the soil at the coldest part of the morning, go drink a cup of coffee, check the temp and then put it in the planter, drink more coffee, check and compare.

If I were you I wouldn't leave it out without knowing the variability.

[Buehler445]

OK, maybe I should explain a little more about soil temperature dynamics.

The biggest thing that affects soil temperature is soil moisture. There is a lot less risk of winterkill if there is adequate soil moisture, particularly around the growing point. Soil moisture will keep drought stress off the plant and water holds temperature. It also seals the ground up to keep air out. As water evaporates, it leaves voids in the soil that air can get into and really lower the soil temp at the growing point.

Also, mulch is your friend. Think blanket. You may think that it will keep sun off your soil, but it keeps more temperature in (and soil moisture) than it loses from shading the ground.

[O.city]

Ok, so we just bought a new house. Front yard sod fully with fescue, back yard like 2 strips. Rest of back yard is patchy with fescue. What should I do to fill it in?

[Buehler445]

Originally Posted by O.city

Ok, so we just bought a new house. Front yard sod fully with fescue, back yard like 2 strips. Rest of back yard is patchy with fescue. What should I do to fill it in?

Depends. Do you care what it looks like, that it is consistent with the front? If so, I'd say you need to sod in the rest. If it's not that big of deal, buy some seed, plant, water.

[Mr_Tomahawk]

Just planted some Walkers Low Catmint....looks great in the summer.

Got my BB gun set by the back door as well just in case the neighborhood cats get freaky with it.

[O.city]

Originally Posted by Buehler445

Depends. Do you care what it looks like, that it is consistent with the front? If so, I'd say you need to sod in the rest. If it's not that big of deal, buy some seed, plant, water.

I'm not as worried about it, eventually it'll get full.

Just curious if I should til all the patch up or just overseed.

[Just Passin' By]

Originally Posted by Fire Me Boy!

So... if I do some container gardening with perennial herbs - large containers, like small tree planters or half oak barrels - do I need to bring them inside during the winter? The basil, thyme, oregano, and rosemary have survived winter in the ground before, but I don't know about the containers. I know I won't get a crop when it's cold, but just wondering if it'd kill anything.

Seriously, folks, I've got a black thumb. Any help here is appreciated.

Light containers (smart pots, for example) + garage space for a couple of weeks worth of nights in the winter?

[Fire Me Boy!]

Originally Posted by Just Passin' By

Light containers (smart pots, for example) + garage space for a couple of weeks worth of nights in the winter?

No garage space, unfortunately.

[DMAC]

Here is what I grow every year and the problems I get:

Tomatoes- Start drying up from the bottom as the season goes on and I need a good weed stopping mulch for those...straw?

Onions- They seem to never grow much underground but those green shoots sure do!

Garlic- Never done, but I'm guessing it's similar to onions/looking for advice

Green beans- no issues

Peppers- no issues

Sweet potatoes- Never done, looking for advice

Brussel Sprouts- They are ****ing tiny!

I don't use any fertilizer or sprays. Just my own dirt and my own compost.

[Just Passin' By]

(mostly) bump post:

I got in my yearly bush/tree order today. I'll be planting 3 cherry bushes, and making patio space for 3 citrus trees. Couple that together with the snow finally having melted and the yard needing to be cleaned and prepped, and it's going to be a busy couple of weeks.