any gardeners?

“Peppers freeze real nice Thrifty.”

“What sass said.

Thrifty, I'm growing both bush and pole this year, so I will do a taste test to see if there is a diffrence in taste. I can't wait for my Dilly Beans! :)”

“I prefer pole. We always have done bush but switched to pole last year to easier companion plant. The seeds were harder to find, the crop was GIGANTIC compared to bush beans and they were wonderful tasting. I won't switch back and I'd like your recipe for dilly beans, please. I'll give you mine for pickled garlic in trade. ;)”

“Sure sass, I'll dig it up soon for you :)”

“Got all my seed planted by Sunday AM except my bush beans, they need it a little warmer. Only supposed to be in the mid 60's here where I live so I'm hoping the corn seed doesn't rot, I did plant it under black plastic again, so that will warm the ground up even in the 60's. I pre-soaked the okra seed and it was germinating in less than 24 hours as I had set it on top of my kitchen range that has the pilot light, so that had to be planted on Sunday.”

“My god the weeds bolted this last week. That's what I get for not weeding one week. I also just found the first Japanese beetle of the season munching on my elm tree. Grrr.”

“NOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! No JB's yet....PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!”

“JW's better?”

“Most of my corn came up, out of five 12' rows, only 8 holes do not have a shoot yet. Also caught two gophers so far. Put up the fencing for an electric fence, waiting for the charger. If I had known I was going to spend over $450 to get this going I would have done something different.”

“Though I love fresh corn it takes up way too much space to grow a decent crop. I just go to the local farmers market.”

“I still have to get mine planted!

hay, something ate the tops of my emerging pole beans off. What gives?!”

“Welcome to my world, SC.

I'm pulling up many of the onions right now. The heat is making the greens wither. The shallots and garlic are still going fine. Adding a shot of phosphorus at planting time really made a difference and they've bulbed up nicely.

I have volunteer tomatoes going well. I hope they're the Italian ice variety I grew last year. Those were really tasty. The potatoes are looking great, and the volunteer beans are running rampant. I hate the things. The leaves are worse than velcro to get off of clothes.”

“I hate the dead bean leaves in the Fall. I saw one potato shoot out last weekend, the best man won.:)”

“harvested some peas last night, but then couldn't remember if the pods were edible or not...the package was no help and now i can't remember the name...can someone help? it was a guys name, like jonathan or something”

“try em..if it's bitter and stringy then no, don't eat em.”

“they were thomas laxton and they're not edible...crap, i harvested a bunch of them before the peas had time to develop”

“If I was a cutworm, I could be eating lettuce now.”

“Hello! I garden as well ^_^. I grow mostly corn, beans, sunflowers and peas. Although last summer I harvested a bunch of watermellons (yum!)and I just started a green onion plot hopefullythey'll survive well.

Also I'm new to backpacking, and just getting into college, I would like to know if there is any advice any of you kind adventurers would love to share with me?
I've been studying some languages like Japanese, French, and Italian if I were to go to those places. I plan on learning Spanish later (should've taken that first huh? :P)”

“Green onions are hard to mess up, or get rid of!

Welcome to the site Nijibackpack.”

“Lettuce is up....spinach is up....radishes are up....beets are up....peas are up....beans are up...onions and parsnips too....transplants doing good so far. Looks like it could be a good year.


harvested some peas last night, but then couldn't remember if the pods were edible or not...the package was no help and now i can't remember the name...can someone help? it was a guys name, like jonathan or something

I think that's a Stan N. Pea.”

“woohoo

radishes are ready....bring it on....”

“With the cool weather, I only have a little over a 80% stand of corn, beans are cracking the surface, okra is a no show so far, lettuce/greens are ok, potatoes are popping out, carrots showing some, artichokes maintaining. Caught a second gopher last weekend, came home for the weekend Friday and my traps were dug up and missing. My neighbor emailed me and said she hung them in a tree after something dug them up. I reset them last night with my flashlight. Hooked up my fence charger and it works, I can hear it clicking and found a short in the grass by the sapping noise, so shut it down, cleared the grass and plugged it back in. Bring it on deer! Dogwood in my yard and in the woods is looking good.”

“That's weird about the gopher traps. Hikerduane.

I've tried growing potatoes before and failed, but this year I'm pretending they don't exist and they're doing great. AM I supposed to remove the flowers or leave them there?”

“They will fall off on their own when finished. You can start eating "new" potatoes after they bloom or as soon as you find some. Well, I hope my fence does better, had a doe in my yard that I had to chase out. May need to bait the fence to give them a shock so they will be scared then.”

“Actually that's a recommended tactic around here. Get them to "interact" with the fence so they know it's bad news.

My koi are all kinds of upset right now. Laurel's having a great time splashing around in the pond. The koi do not agree. Apparently one of the best plants to put in a koi pond is water chestnuts; they filter out lots of byproducts (ammonia, phosphorus, etc.) and if you don't use chemicals or antibiotics in the pond you can harvest water chestnuts 3 out of 4 seasons. I might have to try that.”

“A fish pond, that's neat. My neighbor put in a small one, did not have any fancy equipment. It sure gets mossy, not sure if the fish are still alive.

I don't have any peanut butter, so I wired a bit of tomato leaf and apple shoots about where they come thru, not much to work with for the deer.

Caught my third gopher now, off to a good start.

Looks like my okra is the only thing that didn't come out of the ground, the beans are working on it, still not a warm day today, but I did take my jacket off for most of the day. Off to cut my first load of firewood in the morning, the snow has melted enough high up that I can get to one tree I spotted last Summer that the snow knocked over a year ago.”

“Okra needs warmth to germinate. It's a tropical plant.

HPM just accidentally scalped a turtle with the lawnmower. It died fairly quickly, so it's now buried in one of the raised beds, along the the umpteen thousand rodents the outdoor cats keep catching me.”

“I had germinated the okra before I planted it, its been cool and wet the last month, I had planted it three weeks ago, cannot find a trace of any seed. Not a good year here in the mountains, you have a window of opportunity to plant stuff and it is too late now to replant. By the second week or so in August, the nights start getting cool again. Finally got in the 70's today, corn looks good and the tomatoes are close to blooming, so may take the Walls-o-water off next weekend.”

“Maybe you could try again but keep them sheltered in a cold frame or something similar.”

“Thanks, into summer mode now, which means cutting a few cords of firewood, splitting it and stacking, throw in a dirtbike ride on Sunday, a few bp trips, Summer is gone.

Caught another gopher over the weekend, three now for the season.”

“We're dealing w/ a horde of rabbits right now. Living in a sub one has to be cautious about removing the problem in front of neighbors who love cute little fuzzy bunnies. =P

Got baby peas on the vine a pepper and tons of tomatoes growing. Lettuces and radishes are going like gangbusters. Good garden year thus far.”

“My cucumber vine launched itself out its bed and has flattened most of my garlic and a lot of red onions. Wow, these things are vicious! Not to mention the spines on the vines. They draw blood.”

“ALL my broccoli bolted...stupid hot weather...it went from several days in the high 60's low 70's to high 80's low 90's almost over night”

“My hops are about 10' high now, starting to flop over now, my twine is only 8' maybe. The cool spell the last month did not bother them it seems.”

“Hops get 20 to 30 feet tall.”

“They are growing in poor soil, so it's fine, just growing them where they are for fast shade in the Spring and I like to see stuff grow fast. They are the most bitter variety, now I know what hops taste like in my beer.”

“Wow, busy night in the back yard. 2 dead mice, part of some other mammal (larger than a mouse but unknown sp.) a gutted blackbird, and a dead turtle that's now awol. Something coon sized or larger dug it up, but there's no definitive footprints.

Looks like I'll have loads of cherry tomatoes of some sort in the next week or so. Yay!

I also now have more onions than I know what to do with.”

“Got home from work for the week, after pizza, checked my gopher traps, pulled half a decomposed gopher out of one trap as a surviving gopher filled the hole in. Didn't really care to poke my hand down there and clean the hole out, so I shook the partial gopher off and filled the hole in. Will have to wait for new activity to set more traps. Some of my green beans are coming up, a poor stand, but may get enough to eat by August. The tomatoes are growing out of the Walls-O-Water, so I will have to stake them Sunday if I remember after cutting more firewood.”

“Just had a wonderful squall line blow through. Dropped th air temperature a good 15 degrees at least. I was going to go out and pull more onions but I may just mosey out and enjoy the cool air and spitting rain.”

“Weeds, mud and rain won today, but I'll be back out there tomorrow. Biting ants (their bites feel like strong vinegar injected under the skin) suck rocks.”

“Got lots and lots of onions. Too many cukes, too. Cherry tomatoes are starting to come in. They're a hybrid of Italian ice and sweet 100; they're bright orange. My hands and the backs of my legs are killing me right now.

This afternoon HPM had me take a break and we went out for a bit. He went and got me a mtn. bike, so now I'm dangerous! Hopefully only to myself, tough.”

“HPM just cut down the contorted willow that died of a fungus attack. I was very surprised how lightweight the wood was. I don't like having a big hole in the south facing back yard, though. Ugh. We're putting in a river birch next.”

“Looks like my electric is doing the job, no deer damage in a couple weeks now. Taters, carrots, beets, lettuce mix are big enough now that I mulched them with straw Saturday before heading out for a carcamp trip a few miles from home. Spelt is in the early boot stage it looks like finally, whereas the winter rye is blooming.”

“I planted way too many veggies.....”

“That time of year again. Catalogs. Just got my first last weekend. Also got the third snowfall of the year too. Must be time to make a stew as the carrots have some snow on them now. lol Seems I never eat all the carrots before they freeze in the ground.
Duane”

“Had an awesome crop of rocks this year.... again”

“My electric fence was just a deterrent, deer got to stuff a few times, but overall, protected the garden. Lots of work getting it up and taking it down a few weeks ago. If we had no snow in the winter, I could leave it up.
Duane”

“our cabbage, beets, swiss chard (red and yellow) and mustard greens are still going. Even some cilantro is still growing after being hit with heavy frost”

“When the temps finally took out the tomatoes a month ago, I threw away half a wheel barrow of damaged and green maters.”

“This mild winter had got my garden clock screwed up. The chard, garlic and onions are going like gangbusters, though. My big concern is for growers in western NC, where the mild winter could really screw up apple crops this year. That would suck.

My gladioli bulbs are starting to sprout, just in time for one night of 20 degree temperatures coming this weekend. I moved them all to one bed, so throwing a thermal cover over them is no big deal.

I'm in the process of replacing one of our elevated beds, with new lumber (that won't draw termites this time) and I'm deep tilling (if I can) the heavy clay beneath it and incorporating a few carloads of partially composted horse manure into it. My poor neighbor next door, she won't like it. At least it's not chicken s--t. That's much worse.

I'm ready to just till under most of the grass. The weeds get worse and worse.”