Garden Geeks thread

[FreshFish]

Re: Garden Geeks thread

Thinking about starting tomato seeds soon, for the temperate northeast. When first transplanting the seedlings outdoors, those translucent gallon jugs that milk comes in can be handy, just cut off the bottom and stick one over each of the plants in the evening.

Oops, forgot a preliminary step. We cover our beds in black plastic in the fall, so that in the early spring the sun on the black warms the ground underneath, while the plastic keeps weeds from growing. By digging fallen leaves into the soil in the fall, the heat generated from covering the beds really hastens decomposition and replenishes the soil.

Growing multiple tomato plants vertically works really well for us. If you look carefully, at each leaf junction with the stem, a new side stem also starts to grow. If you faithfully pinch off every one of those side stems, you can get a plant to grow about 12 feet high or so, making it really easy to harvest. In good years we cannot even eat all the tomatoes we grow this way, and have gallons of sauce left over, without taking up too much ground. In a 2' x 12' bed you can fit 10 or 11 plants this way. On hot summer days they will grow more than an inch each day!

For green beans, strongly recommend a bush bean variety called "haricot vert" (which is French for "green bean"!). Plant them in sets a week apart or so and harvest half every other week, you can get recurring sustainable weekly yield for around eight weeks total.

[jen]

Re: Garden Geeks thread

Most lilacs (ours anyway) take two years to flower after being trimmed.

hmm. maybe the buds are leaf buds? (although they're in a cone like a lilac) or maybe they just won't open. I guess I'll find out in a few months.

I need to trim the magnolia this year also, which makes me a little nervous. All the grass underneath it is dead because the branches hang so low, but it's apparently safe to trim after blooming.

[FreshFish]

Re: Garden Geeks thread

Is anyone aware of a good guide to pruning trees and shrubs? especially one that lets you know whether to prune before or after blooming, whether to prune old growth or new growth, etc.?


I have found through experience that the best time to prune wisteria is right after it blooms in the spring. You can then prune it quite severely if you need to, it grows like crazy and then blooms the next year on the new growth. We are trying to establish a wisteria on an arbor so that we only have two or three thick, strong, main stems from the roots to the top of the arbor, which means cutting off quite a few side shoots every year. It can then go as crazy as it wants to across the top.

It is kind of fun, at one end of the arbor is wisteria and at the other end of the arbor is clematis. I thought wisteria was the most agressive vine I Had ever seen next to bittersweet (there is no kudzu where we live); the clematis however does tend to dominate later in the season. They make a good complementary pair as the wisteria blooms in the spring and this particular clematis is a fall bloomer.

[CarlS]

Re: Garden Geeks thread

You may want to try this link to the UNH Coop Extension on Home and Garden. THere are numerous publications by category and there are documents on pruning: http://extension.unh.edu/resources/c..._and_Garden#62

[walrus]

Re: Garden Geeks thread

Just planted tomatoes and peppers, few weeks late maybe but should be ok. Some warm days should help get things going.
Middle of April I'll do broccoli and Cauliflower, cabbage
If we don't get any rain tomorrow I might try rototilling the garden and planting some lettuce? Kind of early but hope springs eternal

[leswp1]

Re: Garden Geeks thread

Just planted tomatoes and peppers, few weeks late maybe but should be ok. Some warm days should help get things going.
Middle of April I'll do broccoli and Cauliflower, cabbage
If we don't get any rain tomorrow I might try rototilling the garden and planting some lettuce? Kind of early but hope springs eternal

We are at 75F right now. I am thinking about my lettuce and spinach tomorrow. Haven't started my matoes but I don't have a greenhouse and only have som much room on the table in the cellar~

[jen]

Re: Garden Geeks thread

Daffodils and magnolia are blooming. Strawberries and chives are coming up. The magnolia doesn't usually bloom until May.

My blueberry plant was shipped this week.

and I see little blue buds on my lilacs, so I'm hoping that's good news.

[FreshFish]

Re: Garden Geeks thread

Interesting to see how much just a few degrees of latitude affect the season at this time of year!

I needed to travel on business to a place 50 miles south of where I live. There, a week ago, the forsythias were in full bloom. Here, where I live, the forsythia blooms are just beginning to open. They are a little more than a week ahead of us due solely to geography it appears since the weather there and here is pretty much the same much of the time.

[leswp1]

Re: Garden Geeks thread

Planted my Lettuce, Arugula and Spinach yesterday. Also planted my tomatoes and basil in peat plugs. Unlike wally I do not have a greenhouse type thing. I have to manage with a bank of lights and timing it so when they get too big it is OK to bring them outside.

Spring is anywhere from 1 -3 weeks earlier than it should. My forsythia is almost going by. In my gardening journal (this is the 11th yr I am keeping one) this the earliest by almost 2 weeks. Last yr my Dafs were just coming out. This yr they are gone by already in some places. Yikes. Now we are back to chillier weather. Trying to predict when to plant stuff is a toss up.

[FreshFish]

Re: Garden Geeks thread

Planted my Lettuce, Arugula and Spinach yesterday. Also planted my tomatoes and basil in peat plugs. Unlike wally I do not have a greenhouse type thing. I have to manage with a bank of lights and timing it so when they get too big it is OK to bring them outside.

Spring is anywhere from 1 -3 weeks earlier than it should. My forsythia is almost going by. In my gardening journal (this is the 11th yr I am keeping one) this the earliest by almost 2 weeks. Last yr my Dafs were just coming out. This yr they are gone by already in some places. Yikes. Now we are back to chillier weather. Trying to predict when to plant stuff is a toss up.

One thing that has been helpful for us with the tomatoes are those translucent plastic gallon jug milk containers. You cut off the bottom and have a handy cover to place over the tomatoes at night.

I also am somewhat surprised by this spring. A few days ago, the forsythia were in full bloom, the daffodils hadn't quite faded yet, and the grape hyacinths were beginning to show, and the bluebell leaves are popping up everywhere. It is nice how the daffodils and the bluebells propagate themselves, last decade's handful is this year's clump.

[nmu_27]

Re: Garden Geeks thread

Only thing blooming for me are crocuses. The tulips and daffodils are up but not blooming as of yet. No idea when I will actually attempt to work the dirt in the garden.

[leswp1]

Re: Garden Geeks thread

Usually that would be what I was looking at. The temp has been gradually creeping up in the last 10+ yrs and I am now a zone 5-6 rather than a 4-5 but this is way sooner than usual for being able to plant.

[FreshFish]

Re: Garden Geeks thread

wow, I stepped outside for a few minutes, and the vinca is in bloom everywhere....between the vinca, the wild violets, the grape hyacinths and whatever remains from the scylla, daffodils, and forsythia, it's a festival of purple blue and yellow.

The leaves of the earliest bleeding hearts (in the sheltered nooks of the yard) are just starting to poke through the soil.

[MadTownSioux]

Re: Garden Geeks thread

So, my 2 cherry trees are both in full bloom; And now, 5 of the next 7 days have forecasts below 30 degrees. I assume this will mean pretty much no cherries this year.

Global Climate Change sucks!

[Bob Gray]

Re: Garden Geeks thread

We put in new grapefruit, lemon, peach, and apple trees a couple months ago at our new place. Already had an orange, tangerine, and one other tree (maybe lime) on the property. All the new ones are doing pretty good, though we get our first strech of 90 degree temps this coming week. We probably won't get to putting in our new raised garden area until the fall.