Garden 2020.

[Meerkat]

@Tank-Girl @goshengirl I have had the same questions on using manure, what's in it? What are the creatures fed?
Until I find an organic farmer I will be using other methods of enriching the soil.

Patch we have never bought manure for our gardens we moved here to have an organic nursery and raise guard donks, but fate had other plans.
But we didn't use sny chemocals anywhere till we started hydroponics, still noe in rasied beds or hugulkulture mound.
We make our compost from brown and green leave,twigs and grass clippings.
We may try to use our hens manure soon if we can take time to pile it up let it sit long enough.The 22 years we had hens we have never had a shot never had medicated feed or been wormed except Diomacious earth.

 

[Patchouli]

I haven't used it but it is reported that making a comfrey tea is an excellent feed for plants and garden. I haven't grown comfrey. I think I discussed this with Tank-Girl here previously.
Recently trying to learn what I could about m=iracle grow. Looked at a Gulf of Mexico water pollution map of Texas and Louisiana. There is a lot of industry along the coast to pollute things; but also m=iracle grow, which is a synthetic fertilizer does not breakdown in water or soil, therefore it doesn't break down by the time it washes into the Gulf, and the map showed what they call the "dead zone" all along the mid to upper coast. I don't know. If going to a Texas beach I prefer to go to Corpus Christi area where it might be cleaner.

 

[LadyLocust]

Would these be black walnut trees? There are certain parts of the tree that can be used for herbal apothecary.

I believe so . I wasn’t exactly upset to find them. Assuming they grow, I will be planting one here as this place needs trees and praying we find property before they outgrow pots so the remainder can go there. I’ve already planted a fir tree and an apple tree here. By the time we move, should be pretty nice.

 

[backlash]

We have English Walnut trees growing thanks to the squirrels. The problem is they don't plant them where I want the trees. Every time I try to move one it dies.

 

[Weedygarden]

We have English Walnut trees growing thanks to the squirrels. The problem is they don't plant them where I want the trees. Every time I try to move one it dies.

I wonder how easy or difficult it would be to follow the squirrel planting method and plant an English walnut in the place you want it or them to grow? Surely in this day and age someone has done a video or blog post about it.

 

[Weedygarden]

There are all sorts of additives in livestock feed these days. There are several that are added to feed that kills fly larva in manure.. The cow or horse eats the feed... this additive travels through the animal and is thoroughly mixed in the manure. When certain types of flies lay eggs in the manure it kills the baby flies. There are different additives for different flies... it gets complicated.

So yes, be very careful where you get manure. The farmer or rancher should be aware of this but do they really? The farmer may not even realized it or if they do may not know exactly what is in the feed.

This is interesting. It has been a while since I got a few pickup loads of horse manure for my property, at least 20 years. I'd bet the manure I got had that in it. I see people offering aged horse manure in my area, but I lack access to a pickup now. I would have to have someone deliver it.

 

[lilmissy]

I haven't used it but it is reported that making a comfrey tea is an excellent feed for plants and garden. I haven't grown comfrey. I think I discussed this with Tank-Girl here previously.
Recently trying to learn what I could about m=iracle grow. Looked at a Gulf of Mexico water pollution map of Texas and Louisiana. There is a lot of industry along the coast to pollute things; but also m=iracle grow, which is a synthetic fertilizer does not breakdown in water or soil, therefore it doesn't break down by the time it washes into the Gulf, and the map showed what they call the "dead zone" all along the mid to upper coast. I don't know. If going to a Texas beach I prefer to go to Corpus Christi area where it might be cleaner.

I have seen recipes for miracle grow on pinterest. Maybe give that a try. I was looking at them this morning. I havent used m.g. for a very long time. But I think I need to give back to my soil. I use fish emulsion and some blood root. I do bury veggie scraps all thru out my garden. And I do use epsom salts. Was just reading about baking soda also.

 

[WVDragonlady]

It has been raining every 2 -3 days here it seems like forever.But I will say for the month of april. Just got another 1&3/4 inch of rain and we're looking at a possible 2 inches more tomorrow.
I do have my cabbages and kale planted and they've established themselves well.
Tomatoes are doing well in the greenhouse waiting for Mother's day before I can plant them. Also my swiss chard. Strawberry plants are growing good. Still too little to get any berries I'm thinking but since I have never been able to get them to grow or fruit I have no idea lol I plan to move them to the back deck within the week.
My marjoram plant didn't winter over but there is a tiny little growth that I need to pot up and baby into growing
I have more chives ( onion and garlic) than I know what to do with. All I can do is harvest and either use some or dehydrate them all. So thats what I've been doing. Onion chives are very close to blooming so I will have loads of seeds from them.
I will be taking all the plants I have in the bay window out to the greenhouse this week to get them used to "outside" temps without them actually being outside lol If that makes sense. Gotta start hardening them off.
The long term forecast for May is looking good temp wise. 60's and 70's and 80 at the end of the month so its almost go time getting things out and planted

 

[backlash]

I wonder how easy or difficult it would be to follow the squirrel planting method and plant an English walnut in the place you want it or them to grow? Surely in this day and age someone has done a video or blog post about it.

I have been told the walnuts need to freeze in the ground before they will germinate. I currently have 3 trees growing and I am going to try to transplant at least 1.

 

[Meerkat]

We have English Walnut trees growing thanks to the squirrels. The problem is they don't plant them where I want the trees. Every time I try to move one it dies.

We tried to move cedar trees on our property and they all kept dying, then we realized we could only trasplant them under 1 foot tall.Now we have lots of them where we want them.

 

[LadyLocust]

When transplanting trees, take notice of which way they are facing - can even put a little mark on the north side. When you put them in their new spot, face them the same direction - trees know directions. If you plant them facing the same direction, it's less stressful for them and they have a better chance of surviving.

 

[Patchouli]

Remember, some trees negatively affect the soil. At least in our case, pine trees and black walnut weren't conducive to growing a garden right by them.
@lilmissy I think I ended my post too soon. Every bag of soil I have seen in nurseries and garden centers has the black circle and word m=iracle grow on it. They add it to just about everything. I have found a few companies that package organic soil. Yes, use organic fertilizers!!

Another problem I've had is not feeding the vegetable plants the correct equation of phosphorus, nitrogen, and potassium. Sometimes I feel like if I ever knew anything about gardening it is buried deep in my brain shed. That was a joke, sort of.

 

[Peanut]

There are lots of trees that secrete chemicals to kill off or stunt competition. Usually other trees are the target. The princess tree, china berry and popcorn trees are notorious for this.

Rule of thumb... Tree roots spread out horizontally a few feet further than the drip line. The drip line is how far out the limbs reach.

Here is a pic of a magnolia tree in a yard I saw once. The roots go out further than the limbs. The limbs to the left go out about 12ft. The roots probably go out 14 or 15ft. People will trim back tree limbs by their garden but they forget about the roots.

 

[Support Gunner]

Starting to harden off the plants.

 

[Support Gunner]

The lettuce is going great. We will plant a few more in pots.

 

[Support Gunner]

Carrots are doing nicely. We are definitely going to plant more here in a week or so.

Tomorrow we are tilling the garden, getting the trellises up, the water system up an going and direct sowing the bush beans and peas.

 

[Support Gunner]

Started around 930, 10. Just got done (for the most part) at 430.

Direct sow a lot of peas (thats the arch trellis) and 24 bush beans. Thats 13 more then last year.

So far we are really impressed with the Dig Drip water system.

 

[Peanut]

Thought I’d try something drastic and see if it works. I bought several plants about the 18th of mar. One was a jalapeno pepper about 1.5ft tall in a little 6-inch container.

Since that time, I’ve set out about 110 tomato and pepper plants in the garden, planted corn etc in the garden and potted a few other plants for the porch.

I kept forgetting about the jalapeno. I’d water it and think I need to re-pot or set it out. Locally there was a shortage of pots for porch plants. After weeks of searching, I finally found the ones I use at wally’s this week, just got them in.

What the heck… Today I re-potted that jalapeno to a 11-inch pot. It already has peppers one it! Let’s see how tough it is! Will it survive in the middle of fruiting?

If not, I’ll get 5 peppers off it. I have 39 cayenne plants in the garden or on the porch so I’ll not be lacking in peppers.

Pics 1 – the day I brought it home, you can only see the bottom half of it.

Pics 2 & 3 re-potted!

 

[Peanut]

Looks good @Support Gunner Just curious, are you irrigating with city (chlorinated) water? The reason I ask, several years ago the county an old friend lived in (deceased) ran water lines all the way out to his house in early fall.

I don't know the percentage of chlorine they were using but it badly stunted a patch of turnip greens he had growing. It almost killed them. There were many complaints at the time from other folks. Here, I don't have to use city water for plants except on my porch. That said, for my porch plants I let the chlorine evaporate out before using it. The natural state of chlorine is gas. I run city water into 5 gallon buckets on the porch and let it sit a couple of days before using it. When I can no longer smell the chlorine I use it.

 

[Support Gunner]

Its city water from the outside faucet.

We haven't had any issues with the water yet.

 

[Meerkat]

The lettuce is going great. We will plant a few more in pots.

View attachment 41229

Looks good SUpport Gunner.

 

[Bacpacker]

My cukes and okra is coming up. Gotta check the taters and parsnips tomorrow.
Was hoping to get my new raised beds filled today and maybe plant maters and peppers. But couldn't fins any compost in the area. Gonna try again next week.

 

[Meerkat]

My cukes and okra is coming up. Gotta check the taters and parsnips tomorrow.
Was hoping to get my new raised beds filled today and maybe plant maters and peppers. But couldn't fins any compost in the area. Gonna try again next week.

I'm trying to make compost buy its not working out too good.I don't turn it or keep it damp enough.

 

[Bacpacker]

I took some pics today of my raised beds. If I can figure it out, I'll put up some pics tomorrow.

 

[Peanut]

Shame you don't live closer @Bacpacker I'd take the front end loader over in the pasture by the hay rings and scoop you up a few tons of decomposed manure. Seems I spread some every year somewhere or another.

 

[Bacpacker]

Our local CoOp typically carries manure, but as sold out of it as well. Seems like everything is gone to crap this year. Gonna try an area stock yard next week and see if I have any luck.

 

[Peanut]

A diary is the best bet. They can't keep it scooped out of a milking barn fast enough. It'll be concentrated in piles and you have a better chance of knowing of any chemicals for pest control etc are used.

 

[Bacpacker]

There is a small stockyard near where my parents live. I've just got to get out there on On Tuesdays when they are open all day. Gonna be a vacation day I guess. I was hoping to find something closer to home. One spot gets compost from an area mushroom farm. but his delivery drivers truck is broke down. I need material soon. So the stockyard is next best bet.

 

[Patchouli]

A diary is the best bet. They can't keep it scooped out of a milking barn fast enough. It'll be concentrated in piles and you have a better chance of knowing of any chemicals for pest control etc are used.

how's that, Peanut? How will you be able to tell? You mean asking or is there physical evidence?

 

[Peanut]

how's that, Peanut? How will you be able to tell?

Ask the farmer.