The Official Gardening Thread

[squallumz]

i need to take some pics.. so... lazy..... uhhhg.

 

[squallumz]

upside down squash experiment:

i have 3 of these going. here's two of em.





early flowering, small plant. ima pump up the plant food.


corn:



hopefully it makes it before it gets too hot. finally hit 100 here for the first time this year. thats fucked up.



peas!!:



the impatient gardener's best friend. they grow fast and shit and are easy to grow.

 

[BCT]

My strawberries are going to be loaded this year, planted them in the spring of 2011 so its year 3, despite the poor weather they are starting to come in.

 

[bobjustbob]

Son of a bitch. That parsley and basil from my sister's seed dump grew some nice roots indoors for a couple of weeks then I planted them outside. 3 of the next 5 days frosted and they are gone. The local guy finally showed seedlings and it was nothing to write home about. Everything was long and drooping with yellow leaves except the basil. $10 for a nice bushy 10" pot. Fuck that. Am I really going to use all of that in the next month and hope more will grow to justify that price? Local and small gardening centers are showing the same long yellow droopy shit. For a buck I'll try to bring it back to life. For $2.50? No way. I still have nothing new in my boxes. The rosemary and thyme are still holding their own and much life has been coming back to them. My surprise is that my chives from last year are taking new life. I'll get some food for them this weekend and try to find something to fill the spaces in my boxes.

 

[squallumz]

we've harvest quite a bit of peas. so yummy. corns still growing.. ate some green beans too.

one of the upside-down squash planters fell down in a bit of a wind storm here and we are losing the plant. down to 2 i think. tomatoes didnt make it. gay. radishes are doing well.. and i am prepping our 2 baby hens for going outside. cant wait, they smell.



theres one of em. and you can see a pot of morning glories i think. blue. they're doing good.

 

[bobjustbob]

Oh God don't spread this to rest of the boards. My Dad raised egg layers from peeps. Peeps are the shit. You watch their different colored feathers fall off and grow to real hens. I helped built coops, harvest the eggs, and shovel the shit. I kept that place clean and friendly for the birds. I ate those eggs on a regular basis. My reward and I'd still do it today.

 

[squallumz]

Oh God don't spread this to rest of the boards. My Dad raised egg layers from peeps. Peeps are the shit. You watch their different colored feathers fall off and grow to real hens. I helped built coops, harvest the eggs, and shovel the shit. I kept that place clean and friendly for the birds. I ate those eggs on a regular basis. My reward and I'd still do it today.

hehe, cool. they are about 4-5 week old right now. losing their down and growing their combs. i cant wait for them to be big enough that i dont have to worry about the owls.

i need to build a coop.. any advice?

 

[bobjustbob]

hehe, cool. they are about 4-5 week old right now. losing their down and growing their combs. i cant wait for them to be big enough that i don't have to worry about the owls.

i need to build a coop.. any advice?

Plenty of advice here. Chickens need to be tended to every day. The coop should be in 3 parts. !/2 the space should be outside space. Simple stakes with chicken wire so they don't get out. Cover the top with the wire so chicken hawks don't fly down and grab them. The inside space should be split in half. Feed space and egg laying space. A trough in the middle of the feed in one and a nesting/egg laying area in the other. Wall them separate with just a little door opening between them at the bottom that you can flap down. This helps you when cleaning and feeding since you can chase the birds out to do your work.

The nesting space should be divided into slots on a wall. Enough space for a hen to hop into and lay their eggs. A 1" x 1" rail across each level is enough to get them there. You don't have to have 1 space for each bird. 1 per 8-10 birds is good. They don't lay eggs every day. Since you will be collecting eggs every day they don't need their own separate nests. Lay down some straw in each cubby and don't worry about frequent cleaning. They don't shit where they lay eggs.

Feed them some good corn feed. Like above just a trough that they can pick at on the floor of their feeding area is good enough. The thing is to look for varmints that might get in there to eat the feed. Field mice and other critters want to get in there when they smell the feed. Look for these signs of burrowing holes and deal with them.

Once a week is enough to shovel out and lay fresh straw if your birds to space ratio is decent. Do give it a good cleaning. Chase the birds into the open area and shut the door so you can do your job. All of this should keep your birds happy and gathering eggs every day.



I finally planted on my deck. Never found herbs and went to tomatoes. An heirloom orange one with few seeds (they said) and some plumbs. Yesterday I planted them on my deck. Today there is a frost alert. FUCKING...Ugh. Mother Nature isn't very cooperative on Mother's Day.

 

[bobjustbob]

Between the frost and storms that blew my plumbs off the deck twice since I planted them there is one left. That vine looks weak. I transplanted it into a deck box with wide room and just 6" of depth. 4 flowers on it and waiting for what will come in the next week or 2. I'm thinking with more root room it should start to take off. The heirloom pineapple tomato one looks strong. No flowers yet but the base is growing thick and it stands very firmly. I'm not too worried since tomatoes here just burst out when they are ready and don't stop producing even into the fall.

 

[Petra]

This was taken about 2 weeks ago...everything is even greener if that's possible. The living stone daisies (ice flowers) are getting close to blooming.

The koriander, dill and catnip have become monsters. So have the hortensia.

 

[vodkazvictim]

I'm leaving the country so I'll be losing my garden

 

[lurkingdirk]

My early potatoes will be ready next week. I can hardly wait!

 

[squallumz]

my chickens ate my morning glories. they ate my cabbage. and spinach. and corn. the corn ill give them a pass on, but the rest.. asshole fucking birds. im tired of them. they actually cry and whine. their eggs better be amazing. i just keep thinking of proper fresh eggs.

summer has kicked in much too early here and fried everything but one lone upside down squash plant. ive learned a lot about the upside down stuff this year with my first go. its all about placement, and its funny how only a couple of feet make the difference between growth and shit.

 

[BCT]

Tomatoes outta be coming in here in a few weeks.

 

[larss]

my chickens ate my morning glories. they ate my cabbage. and spinach. and corn. the corn ill give them a pass on, but the rest.. asshole fucking birds. im tired of them. they actually cry and whine. their eggs better be amazing. i just keep thinking of proper fresh eggs.

summer has kicked in much too early here and fried everything but one lone upside down squash plant. ive learned a lot about the upside down stuff this year with my first go. its all about placement, and its funny how only a couple of feet make the difference between growth and shit.

Eat my veg, will ya. WELL I'M GONNA EAT YOUR BABIES!

 

[squallumz]

Eat my veg, will ya. WELL I'M GONNA EAT YOUR BABIES!

exactly. i figured they might nibble things, but, nope. the whole lot in one day.

 

[bobjustbob]

The heirloom plant is thick. Wind knocked it off the rail and the pot split. Transplanted to the deck box. I might have to go 5 gal bucket on the deck and let it vine out. Wrap that and my Roma around the rails. Got 3 fruit on it now 2 inches. Whoo Hoo! Can't wait till they are "Jersey Fresh."

 

[squallumz]

its the peak of the summer here. no a single plant remains living. not in this fucking heat.

 

[BCT]

We have tomatoes right now but if we have a drought like last year kiss them goodbye, haven't had a good rain for a few weeks..

 

[bobjustbob]

Squally, don't you get another season of planting?

I got 1 ugly tomato off my pineapple heirloom last month. Tasted great and was so meaty BUT THAT WAS JUST ONE FUCKING TOMATO!!! Right now there is another one there. Still green and not nearly as large as I had found in pictures. My romas have popped some. I thought they would be the size as store plumbs but no. Bigger than grapes but when I only get 3 or 4 I may be doing something wrong. They are lacking flowers. Can I still get some better fruit? It's not too late, is it? I have been giving them their food. Give them a drink when leaves start to droop.