Gardening

Tony Page said:
Just a thought about my prior gardening pond.

When I had the larger plot Garden and the pond at the same time, about once every month I would drain 15 to 20% of the pond water and use that water for the vegetable garden. To refill the pond I could not use the water directly from the supply because of the high chlorine levels, which could hurt the fish in the pond. I could have purchased a chemical that took the chlorine out of the water and mixed it in with the additional water. instead I bought a cartridge water filter designed for use in a home to purify and filter the chlorine out of the water. As the water came out of the hose connected to the filter cartridge it was purified. I just had to make adapters to the filter cartridge connections to fit a hose end connections. I even use the filter when watering my vegetable garden. There's pros and cons as to whether chlorine in the water is healthy for your plants. I figured it couldn't hurt to use filtered water when I could on my vegetables.
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I cannot imagine chlorine being good for fish @Tony Page.
 
Beth Gallagher said:
I've been out in the sunshine today, mostly puttering around but I'm exhausted. I got one Earthbox ready to plant and then we went to the garden center for more raised bed soil, some volvanic rock, and a few small flowering plants to replace winter casualties. Nothing says "I'm freakin' OLD" like hefting bags of soil and rocks, y'all.

I couldn't resist the vegetable seedlings but after seeing the price tags I could easily walk away. Seriously... $5 apiece for a 3" tall cucumber plant or a tomato seedling?? What? So I came home and planted some cucumber seeds; I can get 50 seedlings from a single $2 pack of seed.
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That is why I grow everything from seed @Beth Gallagher. It is a pain and a bit of a burden, but, in addition to the cost, you avoid bringing diseases and pests home with you from wherever the plants wee grown and stored. We have no slugs here naturally, but a moose wiped out my cabbages one years and I filled in with cabbage seedlings form Walmart. We have been fighting slugs ever since.
 
Speaking from experience, if you wait until the soil is warm enough, then plant the seed, you will have veggies almost as soon as you would by buying the plants. Seeds planted shallow will sprout and come up in about three days. They will start to grow immediately. Transplanted plants have to adjust. My oldest son was buying plants. I told him what I just said but he wouldn't listen. Last year, he had to replant and the seeds sprouted and came up in three days. So now he says he will plant the seeds. Mother knows best. ;) ;)
 
Shirley Martin said:
Speaking from experience, if you wait until the soil is warm enough, then plant the seed, you will have veggies almost as soon as you would by buying the plants. Seeds planted shallow will sprout and come up in about three days. They will start to grow immediately. Transplanted plants have to adjust. My oldest son was buying plants. I told him what I just said but he wouldn't listen. Last year, he had to replant and the seeds sprouted and came up in three days. So now he says he will plant the seeds. Mother knows best. ;) ;)
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It certainly works that way sometimes. I tried transplanting squash ad planting directly, and the direct-seeded squash bore fruit before the transplanted squash. I have since perfected my technique, however, and that is no longer true for me, but it involves special techniques and not everyone wants to go to the hassle that I do. You are very right @Shirley Martin for "normal" people:)
 
Don Alaska said:
It certainly works that way sometimes. I tried transplanting squash ad planting directly, and the direct-seeded squash bore fruit before the transplanted squash. I have since perfected my technique, however, and that is no longer true for me, but it involves special techniques and not everyone wants to go to the hassle that I do. You are very right @Shirley Martin for "normal" people:)
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I prefer starting seeds. Not only is it more economical, but you can try varieties not found in the local nurseries.
 
Don Alaska said:
That is why I grow everything from seed @Beth Gallagher. It is a pain and a bit of a burden, but, in addition to the cost, you avoid bringing diseases and pests home with you from wherever the plants wee grown and stored. We have no slugs here naturally, but a moose wiped out my cabbages one years and I filled in with cabbage seedlings form Walmart. We have been fighting slugs ever since.
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I usually start my own seeds, but since I have such a small 3-container "garden" this year I was thinking I'd take a shortcut. I have never had any issue with store-bought plants, though. I just remember when a 6-pack of tomato seedlings was about $1... not $5/each.
 
Shirley Martin said:
Speaking from experience, if you wait until the soil is warm enough, then plant the seed, you will have veggies almost as soon as you would by buying the plants. Seeds planted shallow will sprout and come up in about three days. They will start to grow immediately. Transplanted plants have to adjust. My oldest son was buying plants. I told him what I just said but he wouldn't listen. Last year, he had to replant and the seeds sprouted and came up in three days. So now he says he will plant the seeds. Mother knows best. ;) ;)
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Well, that maybe true for a Dixie Chick, but for us up yonder, by the time seeds in the ground sprout, a planted former potted plant, is starting to bear fruit.

One year I used trenches to make my compost. I threw a bunch of rotten tomatoes in it. I decided to not use that system anymore and left the long hilled row until I felt like tilling it and planting grass over it. About the middle of June when my other transplanted tomatoes were turning color and a couple weeks off harvest, numerous tomato plants sprouted on that compost.

Out of morbid curiosity, I decided to leave them. They were all from hybrid varieties so I expected a real freak show, if they bore fruit at all before frost. We had a long summer that year and they made a few reds, but were loaded with greens.

I had no use for green tomatoes, fried or no, but one old time ham radio guy was coming from the coast to buy some of my gear I was selling off. I told him about the green tomatoes and he said his, Southern Belle, neighbor lady wanted them. I told him to bring 20 of his 6 gal plastic buckets he got from a Mongolian restaurant, the same restaurant where we went to lunch years earlier. I mean strange funny dressed men dancing around a hot cone, flipping food, without regard for separation. Food that was laid out on a table like a swap meet, so you could pick what you wanted. I wasn't impressed that my careful selections, avoiding foods that made me gag, like octopus, I can't spell the fancy name for it this early in the AM, were ignored with such reckless abandon.

We filled those buckets and that was only half of what there was. He denied any hanky panky with the Southern Belle but he wasn't fooling me. He was also peeved that one tuning unit he wanted, I had sold to Joe Walsh that was also an old time ham radio buff. I pointed out that not only had Joe spoke for it months earlier during one of our roundtable discussions, but also had he ever stood on a corner in Winslow, Arizona and seen a girl my lord, in a flat bed Ford? No, he had not, so there!

Anyhoo, the Southern Belle green fried tomato lover, was very appreciative of the haul he brought her. The moral of this story is, the self seeded plants were two months behind the ones I set out from my greenhouse.
 
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Beth Gallagher said:
I've been out in the sunshine today, mostly puttering around but I'm exhausted. I got one Earthbox ready to plant and then we went to the garden center for more raised bed soil, some volvanic rock, and a few small flowering plants to replace winter casualties. Nothing says "I'm freakin' OLD" like hefting bags of soil and rocks, y'all.

I couldn't resist the vegetable seedlings but after seeing the price tags I could easily walk away. Seriously... $5 apiece for a 3" tall cucumber plant or a tomato seedling?? What? So I came home and planted some cucumber seeds; I can get 50 seedlings from a single $2 pack of seed.
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Does anyone seriously believe that that $5 plant will even produce $5 worth of cucumbers? I don't and won't pay those prices. I did the math and not even putting any value on labor, the cost of quality plants, soil, etc., and what we have to pay for water, is about double what I can go to one of our many fruit and veggie stands and get high quality produce for.

When I was younger and had my big rear tine Italian tiller, I enjoyed the entire process. That old tiller was a 10 HP and had a rope pull to start it. Not a recoil, but wrap it around and pull. It had no compression release, so when my shoulders, etc., rebelled, I sold it and my enthusiasm for gardening has been waning ever since.
 
Faye Fox said:
Does anyone seriously believe that that $5 plant will even produce $5 worth of cucumbers? I don't and won't pay those prices. I did the math and not even putting any value on labor, the cost of quality plants, soil, etc., and what we have to pay for water, is about double what I can go to one of our many fruit and veggie stands and get high quality produce for.

When I was younger and had my big rear tine Italian tiller, I enjoyed the entire process. That old tiller was a 10 HP and had a rope pull to start it. Not a recoil, but wrap it around and pull. It had no compression release, so when my shoulders, etc., rebelled, I sold it and my enthusiasm for gardening has been waning ever since.
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I do not recall where you are located. We have no real farmers markets that I found so we plant. We work with seeds for specialty peppers and plants for the rest. A well cared for tomatoe will produce plenty.
 
Faye Fox said:
One year I used trenches to make my compost. I threw a bunch of rotten tomatoes in it. I decided to not use that system anymore and left the long hilled row until I felt like tilling it and planting grass over it. About the middle of June when my other transplanted tomatoes were turning color and a couple weeks off harvest, numerous tomato plants sprouted on that compost.
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Since I planned to rebuild the frame for my compost pile, I moved everything from the old pile into a back garden where I was planted broadleaf plantain. The unplanted tomatoes that grew from that compost did better than the tomatoes I planted in my above-ground gardens, and I even got a very healthy tomatillo. Tomato seeds are among the last seeds to be made inert through composting.
 
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Ken Anderson said:
Since I planned to rebuild the frame for my compost pile, I moved everything from the old pile into a back garden where I was planted broadleaf plantain. The unplanted tomatoes that grew from that compost did better than the tomatoes I planted in my above-ground gardens, and I even got a very health tomatillo. Tomato seeds are among the last seeds to be made inert through composting.
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Yep, tomatoes grown in compost are the best. I should have kept that compost row and planted mid sized plants in it and I would have had early tomatoes and produced bushels for the next three months. Very true that tomato seeds aren't effected by compost. I couldn't believe that seeds from hybrids, would produce so heavy and be so perfect in shape, flavor, and color.
 
I'll be the first to admit that I don't garden to save any money. I always spend an outrageous amount for very little return, but I love being outside in the sunshine and watching things grow. I like to grow pickling cucumbers because the very best crunchy pickles are made from cukes fresh off the vine. Store-bought, even farmer's market cukes just don't have the freshness to make good pickles.

Speaking of cucumbers, I started some seeds in an Aerogarden, some in regular peat cups, and direct planted 4 hills in one Earthbox. Hopefully I'll get some seedlings out of some of those!

I will never recoup the investment I have in Aerogardens and supplies for those, but I love picking fresh lettuce and tomatoes in the dining room. Right now I have some gorgeous romaine, a ton of cherry tomatoes, some green onions, and a bush full of banana peppers growing in the dining room.
 
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