any gardeners?

“treebait what you need are some hawks around. We had a cottentail problem--- eatting my new blueberry bushes untill he was taken out by the resedent hawk. bushes are fine now LOL”

“I have no problem with the greys, it's those little bastard red squirrels I want to kill:)”

“I love violets, runs in my blood (my grandmother and mother are big growers with dozens of plants each). However, it seems any I try to grow flourish for 6 months, then stagnate for 6 more months and then die within a few weeks. My last one croaked last week.”

“Spirit Coyote says they need violet food.”

“I have 2 violets now. I've had them for just over a year. One bloomed when I got it and nothing since, and the other once every 4 months, right on schedule. I just picked up some violet food so I will hopefully soon see some more blossoms.

SC, I have hawks galore around here. There's one that occasionally perches on the weeping cherry (a whopping 5 feet tall) so it can peer down the hillside, looking for likely snacks.”

“hey, if they look healthy but are not blooming, try a little bit of epson salt in the water.”

“Itchin' for spring. getting ready to start veggies before too long! This is my tomato list for the year:

1) Tomato- Supersteak F1 Hybrid
2)Tomato- bloody butcher
3)Tomato- Harbinger
4) Tomato- Long Keeper
5) Tomato- Pineapple
6)Tomato- Pink Stuffer
7) Tomato- Raad Red VF (Determinate
8)Tomato- Riesentraube
9)Tomato- Great White
10)Tomato- Principe bourghese
11) Tomato- Snowball
12)Tomato- Yellow Stuffer”

“heirloom tomatoes are the best. my fav so far is "amish paste"(aka maiden's breast). we ate them like apples last summer...very mild and delicious.”

“helinka, did you save seeds from them?”

“my mum has some.”

“any chance we can sawp you for "bloody butcher" heirlooms at the mothers day hike?”

“That's quite a list SC. You should consider adding the Ramapo. Rutgers has brought back this tasty tomato. Order seeds here: http://www.njfarmfresh.rutgers.edu/JerseyTomato.html”

“I started a 4H club and we are making potted vegetable gardens. This will be interesting. I've been known to kill easy to maintain houseplants. :D”

“Hey Sunny!”

“Rev, I will consider those next year...I have all I can handle for my garden this year! I'm going to be doing a lot of biggifying my garden this spring as it is. LOL not only the veggie garden, but I will be putting in a lot of edible/permiculture landscaping too.

Birch, i'll see if I can spare some bloody buthchers for you, I didn't save a lot of the seeds last year as i wasn't planning on trading, but i'll count them and send you at least a few :). I've had a lot of people ask for them this year, so next year for sure I will make sure to save more seeds!”

“Hiya Birch! Give hugs and warm wishes to your two lovely ladies from me. :)”

“hay birch--my mum gave me a few seeds for you & sass. i'll mail them in the morning if you give me your address.”

“"any chance we can sawp you for "bloody butcher" heirlooms at the mothers day hike?"

sawp?

Is that something close to the "tires of death"?”

“I grassed over my garden last year but I'm itching to start a newer, smaller, more manageable growing space. I want an herb garden for sure and I think just salad veggies like cucumbers, tomatoes, peppers, ect. I'm thinking of doing the tomatoes in hanging pots and growing them hanging down from there.”

“funny, Q. i read that as swap both times....guess it really is true that if the first & last letters of a word are correct then our brains can sort out the rest.”

“No wonder my buddy looked at me weird when I asked if he was into wife sawping.”

“Hey, helinka!

hope all is well!”

“Spirit, it's bloody butchers we have! Best tasting tomato I've had in a long long time. Thanks for the offer thou.

Helinka, I'll email you our addy and send back yours for some BB seeds, K?”

“Oh lordy I overdid it...


We built 3 4 foot by 20 foot by 6 inch raised beds, that equals out to just about 4.5 cubic yards of dirt, which I had delivered (Shazam! They do same day delivery in lousy weather!)and I've got all of it in place, smoothed, and ready to go. I also filled several large planters with soil. I plan on adding raised ridges down the length of 2 of the beds, for added depth, and mounding the last one a little higher overall, but I'm pooped and my back and shoulders are on fire.
Where's the icy-hot? Lol!”

“Good for you, TB. I'm looking forward to expanding from last years garden and it was too damn big.”

“tree, that sounds like good work! :)

I'm making my garden a lot bigger this year, and I'm going to try to grow a giant pumpkin!”

“that is quite a nice setup you got there treebait. I cant wait for spring. Our garden is LOADED with rabbit poop just waiting to be tilled in.

have a drink and relax”

“Oh, man, the juices are flowing. I am wincing under a forecast of drought again this summer, but I'm getting set up anyway. If I didn't prepare a long season of growing things, my wife would want me to get a job..... Uh, unh....up here in the Sandhills of NC, we are seeing the beginning of the Spring thaw. I'm a Presbyterian, but the last few years have made me a bit skittish, so I think I'm going to check with the Earth folks to get some help. I already go out and anoint the soil with barley products (Miller Lite, etc.) Maybe I'm just not pointing in the right direction.”

“More than likely just the quality of the beer:)”

“should it be Leinies?”

“I'm trying to decide how big to make my pumpkin patch. I have a huge side yard full of lawn I don't want that takes forever to cut. Some of that will go to fruit trees this year but that still leaves a lot of space. I think too that I'm going to do the no till method, which has worked really well for me in other parts of the yard. So much easier then digging out all that grass!!!”

“When she started the pile was thiiiiiis big and as big around as the dark marks


last edited: 2/26/08 5:54:18 PM”

“Dirty deeds done dirt cheap.

”

“Our weather station forecast for tomorrow morning is.....

pain.”

“Meanwhile on the other side of the yard......

Koi pond plumbing is 98% done.

”

“hmmm looks like a good spot for critters! I'd watch out for deer and rabbits eating your garden!”

“The Great Mysterio sez.....

I see a fence project in my future.”

“dang!! sweet beds for sure. That soil looks amazing.

HPM, have fun with the fence.”

“Yes, I paid money for that dirt. It's composted wood leavings, composted yard waste (there were a few tiny pieces of plastic bag, tarp, and one interesting petrified scoopable cat litter hickey puck) It was steaming (in a good way) and warm when they delivered it to the house, partly because it had just finished raining and the temperature was dropping like a rock. I'm itching to just start plunking seeds in, but that needs to wait. Tonight will be around 22 degrees, too. I could get the peas started though, and get a floating row cover for them.”

“WOW! You shoveled alot of dirt Treebait! Nice raised beds. Be sure to show us pictures when everything is functioning/growing.”

“Oh yeah, photos are links.”

“What is it about raised beds that makes it preferable to a conventional garden?”

“Nimble, I guess it depends on the type of soil you have. I preher to have in ground beds myself as I don't like to stay in the lines, so to speak. i'm not a strait line kinda gardener. My vegie garden is all over, mixed with flwoers and shrubs, all part of the landscape rather then in their own space. But, raised beds make it easier to weed and tend the garden. They would work great here because I have such poor drainage, but like I said, can't confine myself to boxes lol.”

“Hell, you're not a straight line type of person:) Thanks.”

“Checked out your pics. That Laurel is a fricken cutie!”

“The clay in my yard is suitable for making dishes or bricks, not growing things. I did this more out of necessity than anything else.”

“tree, thats the way my clay is too. Last spring I even made a clay statue LOL! thats why i do hte no till method. I let the worms do the work for me. Its worked great on my veggie garden. i have great dirt, only after one year of doing no till! Still, i'm going to have to raise the frongt flower beds of hte yard as water pools up there and then washes dirt away into the street, so definiatly I will be doing some raising! I'm going to use stones though.
last edited: 2/27/08 9:06:23 AM”

“Whoops, forgot to put in beds for the sweet potatoes I'll be growing. :O

Those'll either be 2x10 or 2x12 construction, to allow for greater depth for tuber production.

Guess I need to get more dirt, too. =:O”

“

the only things I have bloomin' right now.”

“TB, I forgot about clay. When stationed in Oklahoma back in the late 70's, the clay was so hard that the tiller just bounced along over the top. The only way I managed to make a garden was by gradually breaking it up and adding things like cotton seed hulls, peanut shells, grass clippings, etc. It ended up being a nice garden, but the work required was horrendous.”