Official Backyard Gardening thread

[82CardsGrad]

Love good pesto-- bake a chicken breast in it and serve on noodles. Yum.

Thanks abomb -- the rubber snake won't work -- it'll freak me out. But I'll try epsom salts. Are mothballs toxic? I try to garden organically, which may be the problem, come to think of it. Maybe I'll try a heavy dose of neem, too. I'm thinking of constructing a cage with window-screen on the bottom and four sides, and netting over top. I really want a homegrown melon out of this.

Zenny, I feel your pain... When we first moved to Arizona, I built a 10x10 garden and ran drip lines to it. It was awesome as I quickly discovered that here in the desert, adding water on a regular basis to anything ensures amazing growth! I planted lettuce early in February, then tomatoes, cucumber, squash, eggplant and various types of peppers. They all took off and were producing plentiful fruit. However, I quickly encountered the perils of having a garden in the desert, as the fruit was systematically attacked by birds, rabbits, and lord knows what else... After several years of thinking I can get to the fruit before the attackers, and proven wrong in each instance, I built a 4 foot fence around the garden and hung garden mesh over the top. It worked for a while, but the attackers eventually figured out ways to penetrate the bamboo fence I had built...
My last resort - which I have not yet actually built, is to contruct a fence and use wire meshing to surround it. I know they won't be able to penetrate the wire meshing... It's just a pain in the arse to use wire meshing and provide for easy access to the garden... I also hate the way wire meshing looks... I'm a traditionalist when it comes to gardening. I enjoy the asthetics as much as what I sow and reap...

 

[AZZenny]

Oh, years ago, I surrounded my now overly large garden with 48" high construction wire and also wrapped the whole thing in very small-gauge poultry wire that rattlers can't get through. Sunk the fence 4" below ground, and the rabbits can't get under it (I patrol for digging) or over it. But the freaking ground squirrel can, and of course birds, so I use netting too when there's anything to protect. (Alas, the biggest varmint of all is bermuda grass.)

Last night I built a 5' X 40" X 36" PVC cage and wrapped it on 5 sides with fiberglass porch screen, with bird netting over the top. Took me 4-5 hours, but so far, no breached walls. (The melon is in a huge plastic pot so I was able to carefully move it into its new home.)

 

[abomb]

Check out this technique;

http://www.minifarmhomestead.com/gardening/tomato.htm

 

[D-Dogg]

Garden update: We have several pumpkins growing...have been pulling squash out by the bushel. Wife made some squash bread the other day...yum. Pulled out some cukes too. Some of the peas are dead, but the squash shades the rest and they are doing good. The melons (cantalope and water) are growing outside of the garden...they are trying to crowd. It is very crowded right now, but everything is thriving. It is looking rather junglelike though, but that's because i have a lot of plants that have the big, spreading leaves. The spinach is getting eaten by something though...we've had two harvests but it is on its last leg, I fear. I will have to plan better for its placement next season.

Next season I will cut back the number of plants of each type, simply because of space issues. Probably get better production that way too (though it has been great so far).

One of the sunflowers is actually yellow now.

 

[Jersey Girl]

I really miss my garden. I have one lone eggplant growing in a container on the porch. All other plants have died after producing nothing.

 

[AZZenny]

Got two watermelons now the size of grapefruit in their private screened porch.

 

[D-Dogg]

Got two watermelons now the size of grapefruit in their private screened porch.

That's awesome...especially with all the hard work you had to put into that! Congrats!

 

[D-Dogg]

For the next plantings, I'm going to research some companion gardening ideas, matching plants with plants to cut down on the insects that thrive on some by putting in others that repel them. I did it by accident in this planting, and those plants are pretty happy. We are going organic in this garden, but it is hard to see plants get chewed up.

Bright side, we've got ladybugs in there now...on their own decision, not brought in...which my daughter absolutely loves. I expect more with the sunflowers starting to bloom.

 

[D-Dogg]

So we took about 12 of our pickling cukes, the very early harvest of them (there are alot more ready to rock out there...just growing away) and pickled them.

It was our first time canning anything...I mean, as a kid I helped my mom can stuff from her garden, but that doesn't count. I basically washed the crap and stuck it in a jar. I didn't mix ingredients, etc. Well, I overtightened the collars on the jars, and they buckled a bit, but they still sucked down and got a good vacuum seal, so our four pints of pickles should be ready for Labor Day. I'm terribly excited about this (I love me some damn pickles, in the first place.)

This was just a trial run though to perfect the pickling/canning process. Our pickler bushes are chock full of sexy good time flowers and we expect a monster harvest. With about 28 of them equaling 7 lbs, we are going to be in for a pickle fest for the rest of the year. And I love it. Want to get about 15 pounds or so in the next harvest, instead of the 2 lbs this time.

Overall though, the white flies are doing serious damage...they've killed a tomato plant for sure, probably two, and have hurt the pumpkins...which have a bunch of them growing. We have a cantaloupe as big as my head, no kidding...the thing is huge, and another big one too. About 10 watermelon that each are supposed to get around 25 lbs. But we have no room!!! The vines have invaded the lawn now, and I'm just letting them. Attack of the overgrown garden!

The squash plants, which had been so strong, are starting to die back. Is that normal for this time of the year? We've harvested a ton from them...really, more than we can eat. We've made squash bread and had it for meals and in salads and everything, and we still have some more on the plant and in our crisper. I just wondered if they are dying early or not...I really think these white flies are kicking my garden's ass.

My ladybugs should arrive soon...1500 of them...I just noticed some dragonflies last night too...that was awesome because I watched one eat the little white flies. I wanted to high five the winged bastard! Growing organically is hard...damn.

Everything else is doing well. hell, we've got our ROI on the basil alone...that stuff is a monster crop. We keep cutting it back so it doesn't go to seed, and it just keeps growing like mad. unreal. Our sunflowers are beautiful. I took some pics of them, but I'm trying to time me at home, with a camera, with a bee in the flower...because I would love to have a pic of that. They have really helped draw the bees in though, to pollinate the melons and cukes. Good times...good garden.

 

[Mulli]

Pick the flowers off the top of the basil. Helps the taste and the growth.

 

[D-Dogg]

Pick the flowers off the top of the basil. Helps the taste and the growth.

We don't allow it to get to flower...I've read that if you allow it to flower, the taste goes bitter overall. So we keep cutting it back every time it gets about 8 inches tall, and get a huge harvest. Over and over again. We've harvested hundreds of dollars worth of basil from our garden, and I'm not kidding.

 

[D-Dogg]

Oh, and the wind killed our biggest sunflower, and two neighbors. I am trying to nurse them back, but they damn near snapped off. Very sad, because they were beautiful. I still have 4 alive, but they are much smaller. Very harsh storm winds, and it is my fault because I never re-staked them higher when they got really tall. I'm an idiot, and a sunflower murderer.

 

[AZZenny]

Vaccuum cleaner -- best way to deal with white flies.
Neem also works pretty well, or yellow sticky traps. Or disturb the leaves and spray a fine mist of oil (or in a pinch, hairspray works well) on the cloud of white flies that flutter into the open.
Knock on wood, for some reason I'm not seeing many of them this year.

 

[D-Dogg]

Is Neem anti-organic? We are trying like hell to be totally organic in this garden.

 

[AZZenny]

Neem is a straight extract from leaves and/or bark of a tree. They use it in shampoo for people with sensitive skin (it works pretty well, and also did wonders for my male chow dog who occasionally gets 'hot spots' in the summer -- but not once since using neem shampoo), in India they drink neem tea and use neem toothpaste, you can take it in capsules for your health. Unlike many other botanical or 'natural' insecticides (rotenone, pyrethrins, soapy oil spray) it is completely harmless to humans and animals. It's probably a lot more organic than hairspray, actually, but hairspray you apply to the flies, not the plant.

 

[AZZenny]

I've been a big proponent of Neem for years. Here's a chunk of wikipedia:
Usage

In India, the tree is variously known as "Divine Tree", "Heal All", "Nature's Drugstore", "Village Pharmacy" and "Panacea for all diseases". Products made from neem have proven medicinal properties, being anthelmintic, antifungal, antidiabetic, antibacterial, antiviral, anti-infertility, and sedative. It is considered a major component in Ayurvedic medicine and is particularly prescribed for skin disease[citation needed].

Neem twigs are used for brushing teeth in India, Bangladesh and Pakistan. This practice is perhaps one of the most effective early forms of dental care.
All parts of the tree (seeds, leaves, flowers and bark) are used for preparing many different medical preparations.
Neem oil is used for preparing cosmetics (soap, shampoo, balms and creams), and is useful for skin care such as acne treatment, and keeping skin elasticity.
Besides its use in traditional Indian medicine the neem tree is of great importance for its anti-desertification properties and possibly as a good carbon dioxide sink.
Practictioners of traditional Indian medicine recommend that patients suffering from Chicken Pox sleep on neem leaves.
Neem Gum is used as a bulking agent and for the preparation of special purpose food (those for diabetics).
Aqueous extracts of neem leaves have demonstrated significant antidiabetic potential.

[edit] Horticultural usages
Neem is a source of environment-friendly biopesticides. Among the isolated neem constituents, limonoids (such as Azadirachtin) are effective in insect growth-regulating activity. The unique feature of neem products is that they do not directly kill the pests, but alter the life-processing behavior in such a manner that the insect can no longer feed, breed or undergo metamorphosis.[3] However, this does not mean that the plant extracts are harmful to all insects. Since, to be effective, the product has to be ingested, only the insects that feed on plant tissues succumb. Those that feed on nectar or other insects (such as butterflies, bees, and ladybugs) hardly accumulate significant concentrations of neem products.


[edit] Uses in pest and disease control
Neem is deemed very effective in the treatment of scabies although only preliminary scientific proof exists which still has to be corroborated, and is recommended for those who are sensitive to permethrin, a known insecticide which might be an irritant. Also, the scabies mite has yet to become resistant to neem, so in persistent cases neem has been shown to be very effective. There is also anecdotal evidence of its effectiveness in treating infestations of head lice in humans. A tea made of boiled neem leaves, sometimes combined with other herbs such as ginger, can be ingested to fight intestinal worms.[4]

The oil is also used in sprays against fleas in cats and dogs.

The tender shoots and flowers of the neem tree are eaten as a vegetable in India. Neem flowers are very popular for their use in Ugadi Pachadi (soup-like pickle)[5] which is made on Ugadi day in South India. A soup like dish called Veppampoo Rasam (translated as 'juice of neem flower') made of the flower of neem is prepared in Tamil Nadu.

Neem is also used in parts of mainland Southeast Asia, particularly in Cambodia and Thailand (where it is known as sadao or sdao), Laos (where it is called kadao) and Vietnam (where it is called sầu đâu). Even lightly cooked, the flavour is quite bitter and thus the food is not enjoyed by all inhabitants of these nations, though it is believed to be good for one's health. Neem Gum is a rich source of protein.

 

[D-Dogg]

Good info, thanks!

 

[Kel Varnsen]

So we took about 12 of our pickling cukes, the very early harvest of them (there are alot more ready to rock out there...just growing away) and pickled them.

It was our first time canning anything...I mean, as a kid I helped my mom can stuff from her garden, but that doesn't count. I basically washed the crap and stuck it in a jar. I didn't mix ingredients, etc. Well, I overtightened the collars on the jars, and they buckled a bit, but they still sucked down and got a good vacuum seal, so our four pints of pickles should be ready for Labor Day. I'm terribly excited about this (I love me some damn pickles, in the first place.)

This was just a trial run though to perfect the pickling/canning process. Our pickler bushes are chock full of sexy good time flowers and we expect a monster harvest. With about 28 of them equaling 7 lbs, we are going to be in for a pickle fest for the rest of the year. And I love it. Want to get about 15 pounds or so in the next harvest, instead of the 2 lbs this time.

Overall though, the white flies are doing serious damage...they've killed a tomato plant for sure, probably two, and have hurt the pumpkins...which have a bunch of them growing. We have a cantaloupe as big as my head, no kidding...the thing is huge, and another big one too. About 10 watermelon that each are supposed to get around 25 lbs. But we have no room!!! The vines have invaded the lawn now, and I'm just letting them. Attack of the overgrown garden!

The squash plants, which had been so strong, are starting to die back. Is that normal for this time of the year? We've harvested a ton from them...really, more than we can eat. We've made squash bread and had it for meals and in salads and everything, and we still have some more on the plant and in our crisper. I just wondered if they are dying early or not...I really think these white flies are kicking my garden's ass.

My ladybugs should arrive soon...1500 of them...I just noticed some dragonflies last night too...that was awesome because I watched one eat the little white flies. I wanted to high five the winged bastard! Growing organically is hard...damn.

Everything else is doing well. hell, we've got our ROI on the basil alone...that stuff is a monster crop. We keep cutting it back so it doesn't go to seed, and it just keeps growing like mad. unreal. Our sunflowers are beautiful. I took some pics of them, but I'm trying to time me at home, with a camera, with a bee in the flower...because I would love to have a pic of that. They have really helped draw the bees in though, to pollinate the melons and cukes. Good times...good garden.

Wow, that is so exciting. Congratulations!

:jealous:

 

[AZZenny]

For the last two weeks I have had a Mexican yardman/handyman who cleaned the yard, repaired my screen porch, fixed hose bibs, cleared and made a rock garden, and most relevant here -- he has diligently been rooting out the wall-to-wall bermuda grass and broom bushes that had claimed 90% of my large (35 X 50) garden for the past 3-4 years. I had despaired -- quite literally -- of ever being able to use the garden again, since my back and newly arthritic hands are just no longer up to that level of sustained, relentless labor. (I even thought of selling my house, marketing the garden as a pasture.) He has worked nonstop 8 hrs a day for 5 days and is about 75% done, to give an idea what we're talking about here.

Noah is me-tic-u-lous. He works harder than I have ever worked in my life. He's cheap. He speaks very minimal English, but is fantastic at charades. He's a genuinely nice, bright guy with a sense of humor. He's quite possibly undocumented, but that's not certain. I have a list of a dozen projects I'd all but given up on, from totally re-doing the garden irrigation to building a new grape arbor, rebuilding and reflooring the carport, massive tree-pruning, working a couple tons of organic compost into the garden and busting the subsoil, building raised beds and a little mini-greenhouse, and on and on. What a treat to be able to really garden once again!

After years of miserable unreliable POS half-assed excuses for handymen ripping me off left and right, I have found Handyman Nirvana.

And in a couple days he is going back to Mexico until next Spring.

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I am unbelievably bummed.


Edit: The guy is a schoolteacher in Mexico! - math and history -- who comes up to join his brother-in-law's 'company' in summer to make enough money to live. I know some US teachers who can appreciate that.

 

[Pariah]

Random question: I have some kind of semi-dwarf apple tree in the back. It has a ton of apples on it, but none have ripened yet. I think it's the first year it's born fruit, is it possible they won't ripen this year and I'll have to wait until next season, or are some apples not ready until late in the summer?

I don't know what kind of apple it's supposed to be, so they might not even me any good for eating.

 

[AZZenny]

Lots of apples don't ripen until Sept-Oct.

 

[schutd]

Oh, and the wind killed our biggest sunflower, and two neighbors. I am trying to nurse them back, but they damn near snapped off. Very sad, because they were beautiful. I still have 4 alive, but they are much smaller. Very harsh storm winds, and it is my fault because I never re-staked them higher when they got really tall. I'm an idiot, and a sunflower murderer.

Sorry to hear about your neighbors.

 

[Bada0Bing]

My ladybugs should arrive soon...1500 of them...

Nice work on the garden man, it sounds outstanding. Hey, where did you order your ladybugs from? I tried Lowe's and Home Depot, but they only sell them in the spring. I need some aphid help!

I think my tomato plant lost its will to live after my dog got to it. It didn't produce any new fruit and died.

We harvested a ton of radishes, wow they're spicy. Good in salads, but burn the heck out of your mouth if you try to eat them separately.

The lettuce is awesome to add to our burgers when we barbecue.

My lemon tree has 30 lemons this year. I planted it 3 years ago.

 

[AZZenny]

Try www.arbico-organics.com in Tucson. Green lacewings are even better for aphids, though.

They're very decent price, very good quality, and ship fast. They also have a sale on do-it-yourself pick-up loads of organic compost just now if you drive there and load it - $75. The 'load it yourself' part discouraged me, but for some of you it might be OK, and I've used it in the past. Good stuff.

 

[D-Dogg]

Nice work on the garden man, it sounds outstanding. Hey, where did you order your ladybugs from? I tried Lowe's and Home Depot, but they only sell them in the spring. I need some aphid help!

I think my tomato plant lost its will to live after my dog got to it. It didn't produce any new fruit and died.

We harvested a ton of radishes, wow they're spicy. Good in salads, but burn the heck out of your mouth if you try to eat them separately.

The lettuce is awesome to add to our burgers when we barbecue.

My lemon tree has 30 lemons this year. I planted it 3 years ago.

This is where I ordered them from:

http://www.growquest.com/free_ladybugs.htm

However, they haven't sent them. I'm pissed.

Also pissed because those white flies have destroyed the garden. Squash. Dead. Cukes. Dead. Melons...alive, but not happy. Two tomato plants. Dead. Pumpkins...almost dead.

It is almost like a family member is ill...I'm very upset with those damn bugs.