Topic: Gardeners

[trueblue]

Blue,you can have all the water we've been getting here


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We've now had rain, after no more than an inch of rain since last September, we had just shy of 12 inches last week, my water tanks are now full and there is water back in the soil.  Before the rain the grass was turning to dust when you walked on it, and there was nothing but bulldust in most areas.

[78 k550]

Put some kale out this weekend last night 17 and tonight I hope it live's

Paul

[Jerilee]

Well, my seedlings were doing well, *were*. I think my self watering system, cooped up in the house kept the soil too moist because mold quickly became rampant around the edges of the soil. I've cut back on the water and removed as many dividers as I could to minimize the mold chance.

On Saturday I put the seedlings outside in the sun and it, and the wind, withered and blew down just about everything. I've put them out again today, it may hit 80f today. Not sure if this will finish them off or help... Grr

[faux fiddy]

We got pounded with hail yesterday. I think it was wind that blew over my  cosmos that I put in flats, and everything else looked okay.  My friend 40 miles away wasn't so lucky, his stuff got pounded hard.

[WhyNot2]

I planted late I guess......my peppers just broke ground, cucumbers, maters, and banana peppers are only a coupla inches tall.

Oh well, we'll see. Spose to get into the high 30s 2nite......hopefully get these plants into the garden in the next coupla weeks. Usually plant during the 3 day Easter weekend.

A little late this year. If they grow.....good for me, if not.......crap.

Jack

[78 k550]

I've had peppers out to about 40. Probably depends on what kind of pepper also. I would think most peppers don't like under 45.
look's like the spinach, lettuce, and kale made it through the night. I just put individual buckets over each plant. Maybe 20 total.

Paul

[faux fiddy]

I planted late I guess......my peppers just broke ground, cucumbers, maters, and banana peppers are only a coupla inches tall.

Oh well, we'll see. Spose to get into the high 30s 2nite......hopefully get these plants into the garden in the next coupla weeks. Usually plant during the 3 day Easter weekend.

A little late this year. If they grow.....good for me, if not.......crap.

Jack

I don't think April is early, especially for tomatos and squach and okra. We're predicted to get down to 27 is the latest report.

Better bring my pineapple.

[78 k550]

everything is staring to spring up.
I have 8 asparagus plants coming to life.
spinach in the compost pile so I transferred it to a raised bed.
planted 15 heads of lettuce 5 romaine 5 red romaine and 5 red leaf.

Paul

[demon78]

The last of the snow left yesterday so we're supposed to have snow/rain showers overnight.
Bill the demon.

[trueblue]

Would you fellas up North stop hogging the winter.  We want some down here, we are still getting 30 degree days, I'm over it.  I hate Summer down here, too hot and nothing grows.

[demon78]

What happened was someone pissed off the snow god and now it's still too cold to sacrifice a virgin or three so we're waiting for OZ to send us a few warm/hot blooded young ladies to satisfy the miserable old creature.
Bill the demon. 

[WhyNot2]

My mater plants don't look like mater plants.....wtf?

Really need to get these thingies in the ground and out the pots.

Peppers, banana peppers, and cucumbers look like what they spose to.    But maters......I D K.......!!!!!

[trueblue]

What happened was someone pissed off the snow god and now it's still too cold to sacrifice a virgin or three so we're waiting for OZ to send us a few warm/hot blooded young ladies to satisfy the miserable old creature.
Bill the demon. 

Bill, I'll send you as many of Australian women as you want.  99% of them are crazy as hell and if it wasn't for the bit between the legs they would be stacked ten deep at the tip. 

[TwoTired]

Bill, I'll send you as many of Australian women as you want.  99% of them are crazy as hell ... 

Now you have me wondering.  What % of the men are crazy as hell in AU?   

Gotta admit though, that with the right kind of crazy, a lot of fun to be had.      

[demon78]

Oh yeah when I was young and single the crazy ones were the fun ones. True Blue do I have a choice? If so I'll take a couple of redheads, a brunette, a raven haired one, and maybe throw in a spare blond or two, what ever you got lying around.
Bill the demon

[trueblue]

Bill, I'll send you as many of Australian women as you want.  99% of them are crazy as hell ... 

Now you have me wondering.  What % of the men are crazy as hell in AU?   

Gotta admit though, that with the right kind of crazy, a lot of fun to be had.      

That's the problem Lloyd, they are more the narcissistic type of crazy.  Not the good type . 

Oh yeah when I was young and single the crazy ones were the fun ones. True Blue do I have a choice? If so I'll take a couple of redheads, a brunette, a raven haired one, and maybe throw in a spare blond or two, what ever you got lying around.
Bill the demon

Bill you can have as many as you want, no matter what their hair colour .  There is a very good reason why I married a Brit, after I learned my lesson the hard way the first time.

[78 k550]

a few more days of hail and all should be good for the season.

Paul

[trueblue]

I finally got round to putting in some veggie beds a couple of weeks ago, seedlings are coming along nicely and we have set aside a section at the end of the bed for some perenials which we have had in pots for the last few years, while we were renting.  For this year we have dug two beds, one of which is going to get a green manure crop and the other we are going to attempt to grow some veg in.  I'm not holding our hopes too high because we have a severe lack of water in these parts and our topsoil is only about 8" deep at best.  We have layed a thick layer of mulch and so far the soil is looking nice and moist, I just hope it stays like that. So far we have turned over 120m2 and have plans for over double that again in the next couple of years. 

[faux fiddy]

I've kinda been slacking on getting food into the ground but the flowers are starting to pop.

[Jerilee]

Most of my seedlings never made it. I've a few peppers that might live to make something of themselves. Mostly just the established chives and blueberries holding on.

[faux fiddy]

We had 5" of rain in the area, only about two here. Had two "cool spells," one called a rare summer polar vortex" with record lows and record low hihg temps and lits of rain.  Things have stayed green all summer fo the most part. Two  years ago yesterday was a record of 113 in the middle of a string of about 60 days as the longest 100' plus highs.  This year it almost didn't touch ninety and things aren't dying off at all!

I put  a few basil plants out at a friends that  like their shady spot almost as much as the cicada did.

Anyone flling a tuck up with stuff yet?

[trueblue]

We spent the afternoon out in the garden.  We got our corn seedlings, plum tree and paw paw trees planted.  We also added some dolomite and blood & bone to our coffee trees to give them a kick start now they are starting to take off.  After that was done we strip picked our mini turnips, they were done, we have been harvesting them for nearly 2 months as we needed them.  The plants were pretty much stuffed and some were starting to throw to seed.

When we were picking the turnips we found this monster black radish, which were planted next to the turnips.  Probably will be woody as hell.



Picking the snow peas.







The cabbages are coming along nicely.





Broccoli are coming to head, they are a bit late, we had a much colder winter than usual and it stopped most things growing for pretty much 2 months.



Corn in the foreground.



Todays harvest





Our little black pearl chilli is absolutely loaded

[Bootsey]

Just discovered this thread 

Well, down south, it's only just starting to warm up. Wasn't too long ago we were still having frosts, and this is how it was not long before that.


Got broccoli, cauliflower, beetroot, kale, garlic, carrots, silverbeet, leeks and cabbages in at the moment. Rocket has gone to seed, and will be replaced with tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, and strawberries. Also sprouting some capsicum, red russian kale, and basil for summer.




Last year was my first time growing chillies, picked lots over summer, which I dried, and have been making curry paste with. Trimmed them back pretty harshly to help them survive the cold, a couple died, but most are re-shooting.


Apple, peach, cherry, and mandarin trees are all flowering, got a new lime tree in too.

[Bootsey]

Water around my area has been tight over the past few months so I have been experimenting with passive deep water culture hydroponics.  I started with a kale plant, it had been stunted as a seedling for nearly 6 months.  In 2 weeks it had tripled in size now is a monster.  I then tried some herbs, I took some cuttings off our herbs around the place and set them in the boxes.  I think the following picture shows the basil likes it.  I've never seen basil leaves so big.  The plant I took the cutting off of has leaves no longer than an inch long.  Now they only use about two litres (about 1/2 us gallon) of water per week for the herb box, which has 10 plants in it.  Next I'm going to try some gold nugget pumpkins.

Hey Blue, could you share some more photos& info on your hydroponic setup? I've been thinking about doing something similar

[trueblue]

I haven't been doing the hydro over winter, it doesn't work real well in the colder months here.  The roots get too cold.  Essentially it is a styro box with holes cut in the top to fit seedling tubes in.  I start the seedlings off in the tubes, as you would normally do, then when they get going, fill the styro boxes to the brim with hydro solution and put the lid on with the pots hanging down into the solution, as the plants grow they send their roots down, the water level will drop, you want to maintain the level at about half the height of the box.  I find it is one of those things that is best left to it's own devices, check the water level a couple of times a week and that's it.  I have a mate who grows hydroponic veggies commercially so I have a ready supply of nutrient.  It really is the easiest way to do some hydroponics without outlaying huge amounts of cash, I keep mine out the back of the house where it doesn't get much direct sun, so the boxes don't fall to pieces.