any gardeners?

“Well the forecast was sorta correct. While killing some trees on a neighbors road widening project, I got a few snow pellets on me, not much, still cool out.

My scarecrow thing in the garden seemed to work, I saw a few sets of deer tracks that looked like they moved in a hurry. Downside, before they got in view of the sensor, they ate the onions I had transplanted to use for gopher bait when I set traps. Now if I could trap deer and fence gophers out instead of the reverse, I would have it made.”

“http://verydemotivational.com/2010/02/03/demotivational-posters-epic-scarecrows/

I need (WANT!) one of these!”

“I had garden peas and 1-1/2 handfuls of black cherries from the weeping cherry tree for breakfast. Usually the fruit from the weeping cherry is pretty sour. This year it's wonderfully light, sweet and complex. Much better than the nanking bush cherry by far. I also had a few carrot "weeds" from the lawn. HPM just mowed, and all the carrots are already several inches taller than the grass. Still taste good though.”

“It froze hard this weekend out here in N CA. Down to 26 Friday and Saturday nights, a natvie fern down by the creek took it pretty bad. Had ice in my Walls-O-Water.:) I will hold off planting corn until this coming weekend, too cool still this week, but I have to get it planted by this weekend.”

“Yay, we're finally getting decent rain! It's from a technically sub-tropical system, since it's not June 1st (start of Hurricane season) yet. It's been pretty dry here. I'll take it!”

“Who knew gardening could be a blood sport? I was picking peas from the dwarf vines this morning, and flushed a vole/ meadow mouse out of the vines...right into the claws of Sweetness the garden cat. I love watching her play with her food like that. She's got a great throwing arm. :D”

“I will hold off planting corn until this coming weekend, too cool still this week, but I have to get it planted by this weekend.”
hikerduane
11:54:51 AM
5/24/10

Holy cow. We will have roasting ears in Southern Mississippi in a couple of weeks.”

“Wow! One summer when I worked in the woods, for ten days in July I had to cover the garden to keep it from freezing it got that cold. Saved most of the vulnerable stuff. When Memorial Day is earlier, I can ususally plant around that time and if the weather has been warm, the week before. I almost could have used my Walls-o-Water for those push up popsicles last weekend.:)”

“Scares bears too! My ConTec scarecrow thing chased off a bear last night. I was checking out the garden this morning and was looking at the tracks, then started laughing. You see some paw prints walking a few feet in front of the scarecrow, then with a space of 5' or so, you see tracks that look like they were digging for traction or launched from one spot.:) This young bear has been coming around after midnight for awhile now, rattles the cowbell on my neighbors tied up garbage can and wakes us both up, she shines a light on it and I go outside. Can't ever see the thing, it blends in well at night.”

“Scaredy bears, love it!

My beans are growing everywhere but the strings I put out for them. I hate having to move things like that around. I have about 30 baby cukes, all on the same vine. Yikes! I also have about 9 baby summer squash on one plant, and a cabbage that's threatening to take over the whole area. It's huge! I'm trying to stick with organic insect controls, but given the inefficacy of the caterpillar control (Bt-kurstakii that aged out) I'm tempted to try other things. The fish won't eat most of the caterpillars, by the way. I tried that route. The Japanese beetles are stripping the poor weeping cherry bald, too. I have to go with something stronger for that. Time to use tobacco tea on those sons-a-beeches.”

“SO much for all of the rain we were supposed to get this weekend. I have to irrigate now. :P
Everything is growing really well, but the Japanese beetles are terrible. Pyrethrin based stuff didn't touch them, tobacco based didn't phase them at all. Sevin certainly did though. I really hate that I had to go the nasty chemical route, but the damage is terrible. There's a certain satisfaction in spraying all these horny little bugs going at it and then watching "drop dead" interruptus. >:)”

“Finally some nice weather out here in the mountains of CA. In the 70's today again I would say. Planted corn, beans and pumpkins, gonna hold off until Monday to transplant the squashes. The forecast is sun for a few more days, they should germinate and not rot. My potatoes look good, I have a very good stand coming up.

Just scared a big bear out of my yard as the neighbor dogs were going off, so I stepped out onto the deck and a big bear was looking in my direction less than 100' away. I yelled and rattled the round table on my deck, he took off for the creek, then turned right, going up stream for some reason. They sure are quiet. A bear got the neighbors chicken feed the other night and I finally rigged up a barrel to hold my wet garbage in an effort to keep them out of my garbage. We'll see.”

“TB, Sevin is probably the most effective thing you can use. If you can find it in a wettable powder (WP) formulation you can mix it with water and a surfactant and avoid the drift associated with the dust (D) formulation

Use Milky Spore on the turf in the fall and you can attack the larval form and reduce adult population next spring”

“I used a liquid formulation specifically for that reason, Chili.

I've had limited success with milky spore; I think it's the particularly dense clay that's an issue.

We're getting all of the rain we were supposed to get all weekend, all at once right now. Hate that. I should be out there putting up more bamboo frames for vines to grow up.”

“my romaine and spinach are dark green and bitter...is there anything i can do to prevent or correct this?”

“i think i found my answer...i think i just planted it too late

Lettuce is a cool-season vegetable. Bitterness occurs when lettuce is grown during high temperatures. Washing and storing the leaves in the refrigerator will remove the bitterness in 48 hours.

does the refrigerator thing work?”

“Yes....kinda like much fresh produce you put in the refrigerator....loss of flavor, and nutrients.”

“My lettuce is all pretty columns now (it bolted) but my spinach hasn't gone bitter yet. It's a variety called "Teton."

I was going to work out in the garden this morning, but I'm letting the kittens out there have a good time and play themselves out first.”

“I wouldn't mind lobbing a few of these darlings around town. :D

http://www.boingboing.net/2010/06/03/flower-grenades-for.html”

“I only planted one summer squash and one cucumber, but I already have too many of each. At least they're really tasty. I used a couple of larger squash in a sort of casserole last night. I chopped them up (I removed most of the seeds) and dumped them in a casserole dish, chopped up a couple of small garlic bulbs from the garden, lightly seasoned that and drizzled olive oil over everything. I didn't really watch the time, just the texture. WHen it was tender I sprinkled lots of garlic seasoned, toasted panko crumbs over them, and sprinkled cheese on top of that. It was delicious, but that's not what Laurel will tell you. She'll inhale cucumbers like nobody's business, but won't eat summer squash (that she wanted to grow in the first place) or zucchini (which she helped me plant.) Go figure. She'll be eating zucchini bread before the end of the week though. ;)

My beans are trying to take over! I may have to thin the dang things out. No tomatoes yet, but all of my plants are growing well.”

“My beans are popping out of the ground, replanted corn, looks like gophers may have eaten most of the seed, so we'll see if I get much corn this year. Squash was transplanted a week ago.:( The animal trail thru my garden needs disrupting, bears tracks thru my peas and pototoes last week I discovered when I got home for the week on Friday. Someone shot last night before dark, I hope it scares the bears away, I chased off a small deer herd Saturday night before dark out of my yard before they attacked my garden, but I see they got my currant. The bears left another token for me down by the creek.:)”

“Sounds like you need to fence in your garden a little. ;)”

“I'm thinking the Contec Scarecrow doesn't scare them off in time and maybe an electric fence, as when the apples get ripe, here come the bears again, breaking limbs off the trees. A couple apple trees are half to third the size they used to be.”

“Yikes!

Years ago, when I traveled in Ireland during college, I stayed at a B&B that had a rabbit problem. The things that look like traffic cones to us ARE NOT. They fire shotgun blanks (right around sunrise) to scare away the rabbits. I'd rather have the rabbit, honestly. They're tasty.”

“got a couple zucchini popping out...tomato plant is getting HUGE and is starting to bud out...the topsy turvy doesn't seem to be doing very well...the grape tomato plant i put in it is barely bigger than when i planted it...only 5 of the 8 asparagus sets that i put out have popped up...potatoes are getting huge”

“I've heard of lots of bad experiences with the topsy turvy planter. The water runs right down the stem, or causes stem rot. There's a couple of varieties of tomatoes that do well with it, but they're smaller.”

“not sure what stem rot looks like but i am getting some round brown spots on the stem
last edited: 6/07/10 1:23:53 PM”

“I have two knockout roses that I planted too close to some crape myrtles. The roses have been in the ground 2 years. Am I in danger of hurting them if I move them about 1' provided I water the heck out of them the rest of the summer?”

“Keep them moist, and give them some root growth solution. Are they in full sun?”

“I have a line of crapes with 3 roses between, then the pattern repeats and they line up east/west. They're along a retaining wall so I was stuck with the varying shade condition. They probably get 4-6 hours of direct sun a day.

This may be a good project for me Sat if it doesn't sound like too big of a deal.”

“...for the plants.”

“maybe wait till early fall?”

“My summer squash has a vendetta against me. I tried to remove dead blossoms from the plant this morning. The stems and leaves are covered with vicious spines and I got several of them stuck in my forearm. Initially one, but now 3 are bright red, with what look like purple daisies of bruise radiating out from the middle. Ouch. Anyone else growing bloodthirsty squash?

My cucumber vine (only one mind you) now solidly covers an area 12 feet by 9 feet, and is still growing. Shazam, that's big. I'm eating cukes for breakfast every day now.”

“I always get a funny reaction to brushes w/ the squash and tomato plants.”

“I get a bad reaction from roses too, but nothing like this. It's the same as getting a blood draw.

Garden bugs make the greatest cat toys. Especially Japanese beetles (the ones that just hatched this morning-once they eat treated foliage, they're done) and especially grasshoppers.”

“Heh, I just caught a beetle 2.75 inches long that attacked me while I was out under a porch light. :) Teh kittehs like! It's buzzing around the house at high speed, not bouncing off the walls, which is amazing. It's just high enough that the cats can't reach it.

No measurable rain in a week, and it's going to be 90 or so for the next several days. Time to irrigate.”

“What kind of beetle?”

“I can picture the cats watching/chasing that bug.:)”

“The beetle flew into a closet and is hiding out. The cats can't reach it. It's mostly gray with brown and 2 dark green stripes. They usually show up closer to July.

Smokey kept me up most of the night yowling for the beetle. He has a very brassy meow that sounds suspiciously like "Want!"”

“I get to pick up my first share at the CSA farm today. Can't wait to see what I get!”

“I think we should all guess and whoever's closest should get a prize.

My stab:
snow pea pods
lettuce
green onions
radishes
spinach
flowers”

“Kale
Spring garlic
Basil
Oregano
Mint
Snap peas”

“anyone got a good recipe for pickled banana peppers?...not enough to actually can, just to throw a couple jars in the fridge
last edited: 6/28/10 5:30:58 AM”

“Let me ask my grandma.

:)”

“The 19 day heat wave (mostly mid 90s) really screwed up some of the plants in the garden. It caused all of the summer squash to develop a hard, inedible rind. The flesh (very yellow) is delicious, but peeling those things is dangerous. The beans are all very, very "beany." Very strong-flavored, even when small. My tomatoes, which went in late, are just now producing fruit. Argh. I've also been hit with squash vine borers, so I had to harvest most of the zucchini all at once. I spent most of yesterday prepping it. Most of it's in the freezer now, although a few cups worth of grated went into Paula Dean's recipe for zucchini bread. I like it very much.”

“That kind of heat is a bummer treebait, tends to wreak havoc on the veg patch. We have had about perfect conditions so far. I have only had to water 2x. The spinach bolted early, but we still got quite a bit, the lettuce, arugula and radishes are doing very well and within a few weeks we'll be knee deep in squash and toms. 5lbs of black raspberries are frozen and there seem to more by the day.”

“i got zucchini coming out my ears!!!...the tomato plant is so loaded i had to put a fence around it and double steak it

found this interesting article while looking for zucchini recipes

"Sneak Some Zucchini Onto Your Neighbor's Porch Night, 08/08

http://allrecipes.com//HowTo/sneak-some-zucchini-onto-your-neighbors-porch-night/Detail.aspx”

“As somebody who does not garden, I was curious as to when gardening (as opposed to landscaping and farming) became a man's activity, so I googled "gardening men", and noticed there is a lot of gardening men interested in meeting other men who garden. It's pretty cool that there is so much support for guys to get together and talk about their passion.”

“my Grandfather gardened, so did his father before him. He was the presedent of local gardening clubs for many years. he was a Master Gardener.”

“So that goes back to what? 1960s? When was your great grandfather born?”