2018 Landscaping/Gardening Thread

[Kacper]

Decided to start a thread for 2018 landscaping and gardening. All are welcome to post whatever they have going on, Especially you Texas/Florida folks who are blessed to actually have stuff going on this early in the year.

Starting the year off on an 11° morning:
Well frozen birdbath that sits on a tree stump because it was cheaper to up-cycle the stump than have it ground down.
21982

The turnips/mustard and chard.....well they will recover eventually I suppose

21983

21984

So whatcha got going on?

[donttread]

I've been longingly looking through my Burpee and Jung catelogs although I usually get seeds from Baker Creek and save some each year. Got a mini greenhouse, coverage for a cold frame more accurately for Christmas. But even indoor planting is months away here. -31 this AM!

[resister]

Two giant tomato plants that are constantly needing new twine ties on account of dropping under their own weight they are as tall as me (6'1) and span my outstretched arms.

[Kacper]

Two giant tomato plants that are constantly needing new twine ties on account of dropping under their own weight they are as tall as me (6'1) and span my outstretched arms.

If they are in indeterminants you can cut the tops back with no big loss. The determinant varieties are the ones that are more susceptible to fruit loss due to pruning.

[Kacper]

I've been longingly looking through my Burpee and Jung catelogs although I usually get seeds from Baker Creek and save some each year. Got a mini greenhouse, coverage for a cold frame more accurately for Christmas. But even indoor planting is months away here. -31 this AM!

LOL. I have been doing make-shift emergency critter sheltering today. One of my ideas was buckets in the compost pile. We will see. Certainly can't hurt.

21988

[Captdon]

Finish my patio. It turned into a bigger project in reality than in my mind.

[resister]

If they are in indeterminants you can cut the tops back with no big loss. The determinant varieties are the ones that are more susceptible to fruit loss due to pruning.
How can you tell which is which? One is a beefstake, the other a cherry tomato.

[Kacper]

How can you tell which is which? One is a beefstake, the other a cherry tomato.
Beefstakes are indeterminate. If you know the variety, you can look it up. It usually says on the label. Most cherries are likewise indeterminate but there are a few going the other way. The basic difference is that indeterminate varieties will produce all season whereas determinate ones are more bush like and most of their fruit will come in all at once over a couple week period and that is all you will get from them. I always plant only indeterminate varieties. I specifically look at that when selecting plants.

[Kacper]

Finish my patio. It turned into a bigger project in reality than in my mind.

Always happens to me.

[resister]

Beefstakes are indeterminate. If you know the variety, you can look it up. It usually says on the label. Most cherries are likewise indeterminate but there are a few going the other way. The basic difference is that indeterminate varieties will produce all season whereas determinate ones are more bush like and most of their fruit will come in all at once over a couple week period and that is all you will get from them. I always plant only indeterminate varieties. I specifically look at that when selecting plants.Sounds like mine are determinant, they grew into these big bushes with very few along the way, now they fruiting all over.

[Kacper]

Sounds like mine are determinant, they grew into these big bushes with very few along the way, now they fruiting all over.
Sounds that way. To me determinants are only good if you want to have a ton of tomatoes to process all at once for sauces, canning, etc. I prefer to have some regularly all season without having to spend days stewing, canning, etc.

[donttread]

Two giant tomato plants that are constantly needing new twine ties on account of dropping under their own weight they are as tall as me (6'1) and span my outstretched arms.


What do you fertilize those with?

[resister]

What do you fertilize those with?
Not sure exactly, it was that city pickers growbox I had a thread on, somekind of time release and added some dolomite lime.

[donttread]

LOL. I have been doing make-shift emergency critter sheltering today. One of my ideas was buckets in the compost pile. We will see. Certainly can't hurt.



21988

Excellent idea. What types of critters are you sheltering?

[Kacper]

Excellent idea. What types of critters are you sheltering?

Cats are my reason for doing it but any critter that wants to stay there is welcome to do so. We have possums and raccoons running about as well but I think the raccoons may have a burrow. Not sure.

[Dr. Who]

LOL. I have been doing make-shift emergency critter sheltering today. One of my ideas was buckets in the compost pile. We will see. Certainly can't hurt.

21988
If they were filled with leaves they might accommodate small rodents, but unless it's not all that cold where you live those buckets can't have enough R-value for a feral cat without piling a huge amount of leaves and brush or straw on top and doing something to make the opening smaller. You could try cardboard boxes filled with straw (not too tightly packed) each box inside of a garbage bag, with an opening just slightly bigger than a cat's head. The cats could then hollow out an area in the straw just big enough for their bodies. Then just pile the compost on top and around the boxes. A good snowfall would make them even warmer.

[resister]

If they were filled with leaves they might accommodate small rodents, but unless it's not all that cold where you live those buckets can't have enough R-value for a feral cat without piling a huge amount of leaves and brush or straw on top and doing something to make the opening smaller. You could try cardboard boxes filled with straw (not too tightly packed) each box inside of a garbage bag, with an opening just slightly bigger than a cat's head. The cats could then hollow out an area in the straw just big enough for their bodies. Then just pile the compost on top and around the boxes. A good snowfall would make them even warmer.
My neighbor was a wooden baby crib on the porch with blankets in it, the cat lays in it snug as a bug in a rug, wish I had pics. Good point on the extreme cold shelters. We have not even froze even for 30 minutes before dawn, here.

[Kacper]

If they were filled with leaves they might accommodate small rodents, but unless it's not all that cold where you live those buckets can't have enough R-value for a feral cat without piling a huge amount of leaves and brush or straw on top and doing something to make the opening smaller. You could try cardboard boxes filled with straw (not too tightly packed) each box inside of a garbage bag, with an opening just slightly bigger than a cat's head. The cats could then hollow out an area in the straw just big enough for their bodies. Then just pile the compost on top and around the boxes. A good snowfall would make them even warmer.

I filled them with cedar shavings, but if they live they live and if they die they die. At least I tried something to help.

[Kacper]

Not much going on foodwise in the garden this week. Went from subfreezing weather to a high of 69 and we are heading back into freezing weather again. Here is a sad pot of onions:

22214

Have a whole bed of them out in the field that looks no better, but this is a pot for little hands to garden in so they leave my big hands alone.
Shredded a bunch of paper/cardboard and put out to compost. Guess if civilization collapses I will be eating slime mold and cardboard:

22215

At least the warm weather allowed the landscaping to bounce back a little. Planted several 1 gal. rhododendron that fall I got on half-price close-out. I thought they were goners this time last week but that almost 70° day thawed them back out and perked them back up:

22216

Anything going on with anybody else's garden/landscaping? This is a good time to do all that brush clearing and new projects building.

[Peter1469]

All I have is limited space on my balcony- not sure if I will plant this year.

[resister]

Wind gust of 30MPH beat the hell out of my tomatoes, but they recover good.

[Kacper]

All I have is limited space on my balcony- not sure if I will plant this year.

At least plant some lettuce to say you did it.

[resister]

Got down to 25 here last night, plants got burned because bed sheets were touching (just the tops) Never been that cold since I moved here 8 years ago, freeze again tonight, damn glo-bull warming!

[Kacper]

Be U Tea Full Day here today----mid 60's--which means it will be lashing rain tonight or tomorrow. At least got some stuff done outside.

How big can my brush pile get before it officially becomes a fire hazard? :evil:

22368

[Kacper]

Daffodils starting to come up...spring is coming.

22687

[Kacper]

Starting some seeds indoor this weekend. Anybody else got their seeds going yet?

I tend to have a hardening off problem with indoor starts but every year I swear "This WILL be the year!!!!"

[donttread]

At least plant some lettuce to say you did it.


Micro greens?

[jigglepete]

Ok gardening enthusiasts this fertilizer is incredible, the saying "Grow Monster Plants" is so true. The first link is to an informational site on the Cornucopia Plus line of ferts, if it catches your attention and you would like to order some the second link is to GTG Hydroponics its main distributer.

http://www.cornucopiaplus.com

http://www.gtghydroponics.com

The Plant energy is 100% organic, the Grow, Bloom, and Formula X are tested at 87.5% Look up Dr. Luther Thomas the original formulator...

We did an experiment with a local corn farmer, and he doubled his yield, one pound ears, on stalks twice as tall as normal, plus they almost doubled the brix content, so theoretically, no pesticides needed because the brix (sugar content) was so high the local insects no longer viewed it as a food source!