Garden pix
 

Plants are finnally starting to take off

Heres 3 different types of mesculin just starting , some lettuce. Chives, rosemary, flat leaf parsley and cilantro. Also italian , purple, lemon , thai and lime basil.

Some rainbow chard , and some peas.

Heres 8 different types of heirloom tomatoes , including an heirloom from my wifes grandfather that hes been growing in poland for 30+ years. Couple eggplant. Also watermelon and red radishes. A mix 6 different peppers and also some carrots.

Anyone else got anything good going?

wheres the weed?

Look good. Here with no sun and low temps my garden looks like it did when I put it in. Slow. On the other hand my fruit trees, blueberries, and black raspberries are liking the conditions and it should be a very good crop, esp. peaches.

That's the Polish tomato....

The weed you have been selling me is so good, why would i even bother to grow any??

a few shots today. Pears ,peaches, and apples. Rain has been good for them, hoping fungus doesn't become an issue though. We need some sun.

Blueberries are really luving the rain. It looks to be a stellar season. Need to get the protection net up very soon though.

Asparagus gone to seed, Egyptian onions, potatoes and a great crop of weeds so far. My tomatoes, peppers, and cukes look terrible so far. Not worth a picture.

Nice! I cant wait ill i have my own home and can plant a bunch of berries and fruit trees.

He's charging you money for that stuff? I've been getting it free. :huh:

Nice pics guys, very nice looking crops.

My garden looks like crap.
other than the basil, not much is doing well.
too many trees in the neighborhood, not enough direct sun!

With all this rain I've got a bumper crop of slugs. The've chomped on green bean leaves , lettuce and decapitated my carrots.
I use diatamaceous powder to combat...any other suggestions ? thanks, Mike

=========================================
yep! slugs love beer ,,,, so buy the cheapest beer and leave some out there for them to drown in...

also you can lay old planks ,boards even card board raised up a half inch with sticks so they slugs can crawl under them... (on your paths) to easily trap them....use an old spatula to pop them off into a bucket of rock salt.
when you sprinkle salt on them they turn to foamy goo!

the very best defense though is a Muscovy duck usually quack-less
and they will eat every single one.

other than that, you have to go out at dark with a flashlight and salt them as you see them

diatomacious earth has silicon spears from dead marine life that is good for puncturing flies , but i don't think it's that good for slugs.

ProfessorM====can I come live with you??? (Or at least pitch a tent in your yard for a few weeks???) :drool:

Professor, I may have asked you this in the past but I couldn't find it using the search engine...but with the black raspberry plants, will last years branches still produce, and will the new strong ones that have sprouted up...produce this year?

I have a white raspberry plant that outgrew the black raspberry plant, 2fold... this thing had very long branches that I *allowed to touch the ground (*did not maintain it properly:blush: ) only to realize that at the spot where the branch touched, a new plant started growing. The interesting thing is that sometime real late fall, I trimmed the plant and cleaned up my mulch, but apparently I didn't do a good enough job because now I have about 12 plants out there. None of the old branches have sprouted, do I remove those completely? How do you maintain your plants?

Thanks in advance ~


The check is in the mail. :btu:

LOL. I live with wife and 8 year old daughter and 2 female cats. That is more than enough women to deal with on a daily basis. But you are welcome to visit :wave:

This years canes, as they are called, will produce next year's fruit. After the canes from last year produce fruit you should cut them down to make room for this years canes and to keep a clean area so you won't have any fungus and pest problems. Usually when the new canes get about 4 feet high I snip them. This will cause the cane to send out side shoots along the cane. This is where you will get your fruit to form. The longer the side shoots the more flowers, fruit you will get.

Tip rooting is a great way to increase your plants. In spring they will be well rooted so just cut the thing off, dig up, and transplant where you want them. Like I said above if you cut new canes at about 4 feet you will not have the problem of the tips touching the ground , unless you want them too. I already have enough and have given away many over the years so I try to keep after them. You should have a 2 wire trellis set up to keep them off the ground and organized for picking.

Here is the post I think you are referring too

http://www.striped-bass.com/Stripert...ghlight=fruits

for bloocrab
 

Here are some pics to show you the new growth this year. It will produce next year. The canes with the berries this year are cut to ground in fall or even after the harvest if you wish. The new canes shown are over 7 feet high because of all the rain we had. I will snip them today at about 4 feet high. That will make side branches come out along cane and that is where you get your berries. If I leave the canes so long they will hit the ground and root, which I don't want. I need to cut them at 4 feet and stuff them back into the double wire trellis I have supporting the berries this year. The new canes are smooth and green, pretty hard not to notice which is new and which is old. Hope this helps. P.

Finally got the netting up for the blueberries, as usual I am late. It is pretty hard to get up by yourself and an 8 year older but we did it. The birds, catbirds, cardinals, robins, are so pissed. All they did was squawk as i was putting it up and when I walked away they immediately tried to get in. I am sure they will go for the uncovered black raspberries now. I still need to make up some more stakes at work tonite so I am sure I will have to let a few out tomorrow. I have learned that if you let the birds that do figure a way in stay in the netting all day and nite instead of getting them out fast they usually will never return as it must be too stressful for them and they learn. With all this rain my berries plants are so over grown this year. It will help though for one of my most prolific years fruit wise though. It will just be tough walking around the bushes as most of the branches are so loaded with fruit they are hanging on the ground. Got 1 variety right now that is ready to go and the majority of the crop 2 to 3 weeks away. Wish my tomatoes look as good.

Any one else got some garden pics to see what this wet year is doing to your garden either good or bad?

For slugs there are a few options that can be effective, depending on how dedicated you are to saving your plants.

Diatamaceous powder should work, as it is the residue of seashells and crustacean shells which have sharp edges.

Egg shells, ground up will do the same thing, and will eventually breakdown and fertilize the soil.

Beer traps work REALLY well, and unlike the prior options, aren't designed to drive slugs away, but attract them. I would set out a half dozen old catfood or tuna cans filled with ANY kind of beer (even non-alcoholic types) and placed OUTSIDE of your planting areas. They will attract EVERY slug in your yard.
See, the slugs are attracted to the smell of the brew, not the alcohol, so even slightly diluted beer will still work (since we've been having so much rain). You will have to empty the cans daily at first, as the slug slime will thicken the beer into an oozy sticky stinking mess.
But, it really does work.

Good luck.

Heres some yellow , pink and king oysters from the garden.

awesome. Don't know if I would eat the first one. a case of not liking the looks of it, probably tastes great.

Garden is only doing so-so. Peas came in great but are pulled now and beans planted. ( previous 2 attempts didn't take).

The Easter Lily is where the shrubs used to end. It pushed up through 16" of soil last year so we let it stay. Too nice looking a flower to pull it.

Blueberries (only have 3 bushes left) are almost non-existant due to too many years of neglect. We pulled all the vines that were entangled through it so maybe next year will be better.

Peach tree is producing nicely. We won't see one piece of fruit though as the tree rats rape it badly. This tree planted itself off of the compost pile.

The flowers beds and roses are doing great. Only 1 coneflower left though as there is a rabbit in the yard that really likes them. Put a potted marigold next to the remaining one and the rabbit stays away.

The roses came on strong this year early with all the rain. I've got 40 of them and don't care for them. My wife likes them so they stay.

The pear trees (we are down to 2) are producing as is the last apple tree. I don't take good enough care of them to harvest much. (too busy with the rest of the yard)


The ferns and hydrangeas around the fish pond really liked the rain. As did the 3 magnolia trees.