Author Topic: Gardeners (Read 32858 times)

TwoBigCats · « **Reply #275 on:** August 10, 2012, 09:14:32 PM »

Quote from: the technological J on August 09, 2012, 10:15:28 PM

Quote from: TwoBigCats on August 09, 2012, 02:21:35 PM
Quote from: the technological J on August 09, 2012, 12:12:42 PM
got my basil pruned back... now prepping for some oils and pesto

how much pesto will that amount of basil produce?
alot! i had an early harvest and it wasnt nearly what this one was... my last one made about 3 cups... this one i anticipate a gallon at least or 16 cups.. im pretty impressed with it.. ill let you know when i finish

that's a fair bit of pesto!

the technological J · « **Reply #276 on:** August 11, 2012, 10:23:39 PM »

Quote from: TwoTired on June 15, 2012, 11:18:24 AM

Quote from: the technological J on June 15, 2012, 07:42:15 AM
any of you guys do companion planting?
Absolutely! I've never had a problem with tomato horn worm since planting Basil along side it. Also, marigolds are always in my garden. I also have a book on companion planting. It works!

Cheers,

I know this is an old quote.... but do you have a plan of your garden(or schematic) if so can you post it?... as specific as possible... as well as anybody who has done companion planting... im starting to plan for next year and am curious what worked

TwoTired · « **Reply #277 on:** August 12, 2012, 10:51:15 AM »

You might look here:
http://www.mysquarefootgarden.net/companion-planting/

I use the square foot method for my garden.

But really, if you do a google search for "companion planting", there is a lot of guidance to be found for the way you like to garden.

demon78 · « **Reply #278 on:** August 12, 2012, 03:49:02 PM »

We were using the old square foot gardening book until this year but because of crop rotation we had to swap away from it, back to it to next river, sorry can't continue thought had a root canal on Fri and am bit incoherent.
Bill the demon

72500john · « **Reply #279 on:** August 14, 2012, 06:09:25 PM »

hope you are feeling better bill. had two wisdom teeth myself yanked today.
just planted the fall garden the other day with spinach,collards, swiss chard, essex winter rape and radishes. rain came at the right time..for a change. 2 hours after i sowed all the seed. small sprout already coming up.will post pics when things look better.

the technological J · « **Reply #280 on:** August 16, 2012, 08:21:20 AM »

my garden tour
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="

frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

demon78 · « **Reply #281 on:** August 16, 2012, 10:53:46 AM »

Yeah 72500 I am. I find as I get older, pain becomes more of a factor I'm not able to handle it as well as I used to without resorting to pain killers things now seem to get to me (maybe it's the macho factor when you're younger) any how the gods willing and the creek don't rise we've made our first and secound sale to a couple of local chefs one wants 25-30 lbs tomorrow morning the other is setting up a food booth at Summer Folk in Owen Sound ( a big deal here ), I'll try and get pictures loaded to the forum in next day or so.
Bill the demon.

72500john · « **Reply #282 on:** August 16, 2012, 03:20:14 PM »

that"s allot of plants in there jay. nice! what is planted to the left of the asparagus? leeks?

cookindaddy · « **Reply #283 on:** August 19, 2012, 03:06:03 PM »

garden fresh - nothing is quite like it

demon78 · « **Reply #284 on:** August 19, 2012, 03:54:24 PM »

C&D there is nothing like out of the garden and on the plate, stuff we used to remember as kids that was tasty is probably because it was fresher than what we get from Chile, California, etc not that I'm slamming global trade in food but 20 minutes to the plate beats stuff from the states, europe, asia, south america, of course they, the global people, want every thing uniform and I think that destroys taste as well. We are trying an experiment this sunday, smoking tomatoes, some to go in olive oil, some for paste, unfortunately our tomato crusher is showing signs of wear I may have to do a top end on it ( it may be one of the things we can't live with out ).
Bill the demon.

the technological J · « **Reply #285 on:** August 19, 2012, 09:43:07 PM »

i read that on average food travels 1500 miles before hitting your table and that it takes 12 calories per single calorie to deliver it .... our system is so inefficient its not funny

heres a pic of my goofy dad and some tomatoes he was blanching... the garden just put out a five gallon bucket of tomatoes that need taking care of..

i also had a sink full of beans to blanch and freeze

demon78 · « **Reply #286 on:** August 20, 2012, 04:38:47 AM »

Tech J tell your dad there is a simpler way, google "tomato crushers" or tomato machines I know here we can get them here from a place called Consiglio's from about 37-38$ and ours was 40-50$ and it was/is fine for small batches of tomatoes it's just now with large batches that it's beginning to wear down (not right word, show deficiencies maybe). Does it work, god yes from an hour to about 10 min.
Bill the demon.

cookindaddy · « **Reply #287 on:** August 20, 2012, 09:30:02 AM »

TJ - how come your dad's white shirt is all clean. That's not how I look when I'm doing that - red everywhere!

cookindaddy · « **Reply #288 on:** August 21, 2012, 11:17:36 AM »

This is a Bee question.

I have several hives of bees here, the kind that live in the ground. Normally they don't bother me cause I know where they are and I leave them alone. They are amazing to watch - "busy like a bee". They are in different spots every year, but in the ground.

Anyway, one of these nests is very close (within feet) of where I have to get some work done and workmen will be trodding around. I want to get rid of the bees at that spot. I really don't want to kill them but I suppose that is the only way.

I have "Wasp and Hornet" spray but it is designed to shoot a narrow stream, not down a whole and I'd have to get real close to do that, to point the stream down the hole. Perhaps Wasp and Hornet is not even harmful to the bees? I could put a rock over the hole but I am pretty sure they would tunnel out. They built a pretty big hole, about 3" diam. I don't know how deep it is.

Anybody have any thoughts about how to proceed. Many thanks. George.

TwoBigCats · « **Reply #289 on:** August 21, 2012, 01:25:32 PM »

george,

i'm a hobbyist beekeeper but don't know the answer to your question. you might find http://forum.beemaster.com/ to be of help.

best,
hal

cookindaddy · « **Reply #290 on:** August 21, 2012, 03:15:26 PM »

Thanks!

the technological J · « **Reply #291 on:** August 21, 2012, 08:44:15 PM »

its prob yellow jackets...

cookindaddy · « **Reply #292 on:** August 22, 2012, 01:47:26 AM »

I just read up on yellow jackets - yes, you could be right.

Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellow_jacket says:

Yellow jackets, often mistaken for bees as they are similar in size and appearance and both sting, are actually wasps.
... sometimes confused with honey bees, especially when flying in and out of their nests. Yellow jackets, in contrast to honey bees, are not covered with tan-brown dense hair on their bodies, they do not carry pollen, and do not have the flattened hairy hind legs used to carry it.

I'll have to get closer to see....wish me luck!

knowsnothing · « **Reply #293 on:** August 22, 2012, 10:12:44 AM »

Quote from: cookindaddy on August 22, 2012, 01:47:26 AM

I just read up on yellow jackets - yes, you could be right.

Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellow_jacket says:

Yellow jackets, often mistaken for bees as they are similar in size and appearance and both sting, are actually wasps.
... sometimes confused with honey bees, especially when flying in and out of their nests. Yellow jackets, in contrast to honey bees, are not covered with tan-brown dense hair on their bodies, they do not carry pollen, and do not have the flattened hairy hind legs used to carry it.

I'll have to get closer to see....wish me luck!

Yellow jackets are one of the few things I truly hate with a passion. A few tips I picked up from past experience

1. If you are allergic to stings, don't mess with them because they WILL get you at least once
2. If you throw something at a paper hive, do NOT run in a direct line away , they will follow and get you. You need to zig off to side and move like hell
3. If there is a nest in the ground, sticking a hose in it and flooding it is pretty effective means of eviction, but this will piss them off. See 2 and move like hell.

Good luck

cookindaddy · « **Reply #294 on:** August 22, 2012, 03:02:15 PM »

knowsnothing - All good advice - thank you. I have some of the hanging wasp decoys around and that seems to dissuade the paper nest builders, but they are different from these ground nest building guys.

This morning I tried spraying wasp spray at them from two different directions. When I checked later several times, there were a lot fewer of them coming and going. I'll repeat tomorrow morning at daybreak when they are asleep and see how it goes.

I like the water hose idea. I could probably get the hose nozzle down the hole a bit, again, also in the morning. What do they do when it pours rain?

A note of interest - I was watching them come and go from another busy nest and I noticed that they are carrying lumps when they leave, or at least it looked that way, they move pretty fast. There is no excavation pile around the hole. Is it possible they carry the dirt away and dump it? The wikipedia article says that their nests can be the size of a basketball. That's a lot of dirt to remove.

TwoBigCats - I did spend some time at the beekeeping site - thanks - that was pretty neat. I don't think I will take up beekeeping though...

72500john · « **Reply #295 on:** August 24, 2012, 03:41:57 PM »

cookindaddy, found this simple, but i am sure effective method for removing your wasp problem.

http://www.motherearthnews.com/Grow-It/Control-Yellow-Jackets-Technique.aspx

cookindaddy · « **Reply #296 on:** August 24, 2012, 05:29:25 PM »

Thanks! That could work.

Their entry hold is right next to a concrete walkway. The ground is not even with the walkway but a couple inches below it so if I plopped down a cake pan, there would still be space for them to enter and exit.

Another similar nest closer to the house is also starting to become an annoyance so I have two to deal with. That one is on a slope with lots of hostas covering the hole so I'm not sure if the cake pan would work there either.

The wasp spray kills the ones it contacts but does not seem to have any effect on the whole population. If poison was to be successful, it would have to be something they carried down the hole into the colony.

I read that this time of summer, they crave sweet stuff and take it down into the nest so I am thinking about a small dish of minced ripe fruit laced with the wasp spray placed near their hole. Only problem is I need to put the bait in a cage so the wasps can get it but the cat can't.

George

72500john · « **Reply #297 on:** August 25, 2012, 04:11:42 PM »

A few pics of the fall garden. some greens almost ready to pick. the last crop of beans growing and other assorted greens sprouting, the parsnip patch and asparagus, and the last sunflower head that the birds are finishing off.

the technological J · « **Reply #298 on:** August 28, 2012, 12:29:18 PM »

is that asparagus? how many years have you had it?
here is the layout im going for with raised beds next year..its double or more the size of this years garden pay no attn to the plants i just found some software that had this option to lay it out but im growing the corn and potatoes to make a big differerance in my yeilds and higher caloric intake

72500john · « **Reply #299 on:** August 28, 2012, 01:54:15 PM »

i have had it 5 years, started from seed. getting thick,may have split some up this winter.

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Author Topic: Gardeners (Read 32858 times)

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