Any gardeners?

[green machine]

I'm looking forward to building a planter for my backyard that will house vegetables. Figuring out dimensions/tools/parts now, will figure out actual vegetables later.

 

[HeavyB3]

Planted pumpkins yesterday, we'll see if they can survive the heat and give me some pumpkins in time for halloween

 

[DemsMyBoys]

Pumpkins = Javelinas

I've looked out my window, on a nice October evening, and have seen javelinas rolling pumpkins down the street.

 

[82CardsGrad]

Pumpkins = Javelinas

I've looked out my window, on a nice October evening, and have seen javelinas rolling pumpkins down the street.

For the past 5 years or so, each Halloween we are greeted by a large family - several generations now - of Javelinas who come to our front door/porch where we put out our pumpkins, and they devour each one of them, stem and all... Typically, it'll be about midnight or so, the dog will start going nuts and we turn on the front porch light and watch the family (must be at least 9 or 10 of them now, ranging from very large to little babies) gorge themselves... Our kids love it... and, extra bonus is we never have to deal with tossing out the pumpkins once they spoil!

 

[HeavyB3]

Pumpkins have started to sprout. So far just the ghost pumpkins and not the orange ones, but it begins.

 

[schutd]

I'm looking forward to building a planter for my backyard that will house vegetables. Figuring out dimensions/tools/parts now, will figure out actual vegetables later.

Dependent on the quality of your ground soil, you may want to try raised bed gardening. My neighborhood in Brooklyn is literally a toxic soup of industrial waste from bygone years. Planting directly in the ground is not an option. I found this website that details building self watering raised bed containers. Im no mr handy, but made these with ease. The plants have done amazing in them, and are fruiting like mad.

http://rooftopgardens.ca/?q=en/node/1159

 

[green machine]

Dependent on the quality of your ground soil, you may want to try raised bed gardening. My neighborhood in Brooklyn is literally a toxic soup of industrial waste from bygone years. Planting directly in the ground is not an option. I found this website that details building self watering raised bed containers. Im no mr handy, but made these with ease. The plants have done amazing in them, and are fruiting like mad.

http://rooftopgardens.ca/?q=en/node/1159

Went with a raised bed. Boxed in with pine wood (stained the outside, not the part that touches the soil).

Anyway, figuring out what to plant. Most places say this is not a good time to be planting in Arizona but I really want to get something growing!

 

[AZZenny]

Went with a raised bed. Boxed in with pine wood (stained the outside, not the part that touches the soil).

Anyway, figuring out what to plant. Most places say this is not a good time to be planting in Arizona but I really want to get something growing!

You may find pine boards don't last very long in AZ. Generally they say cedar, or even recycled plastic/composite logs, will hold up much better. There's also the Hopi approach -- stone or brick or rammed earth berms.

Right now you can plant watermelons, pumpkins and hard-shell squash, and pole-type Lima beans do very well, as well as basil; and if you put an adequate shade cloth up, now that the humidity is up a bit you can probably transplant in shorter-season tomatoes and the like if you are very careful not to disturb their roots too much, and baby them for the first 2 weeks. The green woven shade fabric sux for gardening, btw -- I highly recommend 50% shade white woven cloth.

I'm about to start some cabbage, brussels sprouts, and broccoli seedlings indoors, and will plant them out under shade cloth in 5-6 weeks. About then I'll also plant some green and wax beans, carrots, etc.


Btw -- I said bad things about Jade green bean, but I totally recant. It wouldn't do squat until it got pretty warm, but then as long as it was well-watered, stayed healthy and productive of very nice green beans up through last weekend. I finally had to yank the plants to make room for my Iraqi watermelons, but Jade was still putting out small handfuls of beans every few days. Never had a green bean bear so far into the summer here. I'm going to plant a new row of Jade in mid-August just to see how they do, since they hardly grew at all until the evenings got warm.

 

[HeavyB3]

My pumpkin sprouts died. Too hot. I replanted in a shadier area. The watermelon i planted are doing well over there.

 

[Jersey Girl]

My pumpkin sprouts died. Too hot. I replanted in a shadier area. The watermelon i planted are doing well over there.

Yeah, the sun and heat are killing my plants, though I am guessing the soil isn't all that great where I am. Will have to do some fertilizing before fall.

On another note, does anyone know where I can get some cucumbers for a relatively decent price? I want to make some bread and butter pickles sometime in the next week or so and need a bunch. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks!

 

[AZZenny]

Pickling cukes are a different type -- might try the Roadrunner Park Sat AM farmer's market next week.

Not much makes it through 114 degrees without both shade and mulch, except maybe watermelons.

 

[Jersey Girl]

Pickling cukes are a different type -- might try the Roadrunner Park Sat AM farmer's market next week.

Not much makes it through 114 degrees without both shade and mulch, except maybe watermelons.

Thanks, Zenny. This recipe calls for regular, old cukes. Strange, I know. Will definitely look into the market.

 

[D-Dogg]

Nothing in mine right now...getting ready to solarize the soil to kill nematodes, and will patio garden this fall.

 

[Mulli]

Nothing in mine right now...getting ready to solarize the soil to kill nematodes, and will patio garden this fall.

Nematode killer!

 

[AZZenny]

OK, my heirloom Iraqi watermelon plants love this unending heat, and are setting lots of fruit - a couple melons are getting pretty large. Unfortunately the aphids love the Iraqi watermelon leaves like nothing I've ever seen. They ignore beans, cantaloupe, even the straggling chard -- but they like all my watermelon plants, and these sprawling, robust vines they definitely love the best.

I tried ant traps since the little bastids are busily ranching and spreading the aphids, not much help. Tried diatomaceous earth -- limited benefit. Tried a pyrethrin spray -- some knockdown effect, but even repeated spraying didn't stem the growing tide. Neem was similar - slowed the rate of growth, but the ants outran me. Tried a sugar-based organic spray, likewise only modest short-term effect.

So I just now put aluminum foil under as much of the vines as I can, which is supposed to confuse and deter new aphids from feeding, and started brewing some experimental mixes to try to decrease the herd I already have: one of superstrong green-tea which I will mix with a little soap and thyme, one of mega-strength coffee, one of unsweetened chocolate, and one of milk, basil, and garlic.

Supposedly they and ants both dislike really strong smells (and they haven't touched the basil or thyme), and the xanthines and caffeine in coffee, tea, etc. are reported to interfere with aphid appetite and reproduction. The milk, I read may help the plant's immune system as well as maybe suffocating the aphids as it dries.

I will spray different areas of the two melon patches and see if anything helps at all.

 

[Jersey Girl]

Good luck, Zenny.

I am looking forward to planting this weekend. I lost a lot of plants this summer. Guess I should have waited until fall to plant, but it is just so foreign to me being from the northeast. I did have an eggplant and a pepper plant survive the brutal heat. Am looking forward to planting some more this weekend.

 

[AZZenny]

OK, it looks like the super-strong green tea with a tsp of detergent shampoo may actually be working as well or better than the neem and pyrethrin! Probably just the shampoo, or maybe it's the tinfoil reflector oven baking the little buggers. I'm going to try a second little area with tea today and see what happens. I did notice I spritzed an ant trail by my patio, and they stopped using it almost immediately.

Next I'll try the coffee brew.

 

[DemsMyBoys]

Zenny, have you ever tried a mixture of Dawn dishwashing soap and water? Years ago I talked to a vector control guy from the county I lived in. The area had a major fruit fly problem and they were using malathion which was sprayed from helicopters. He told me that they were testing the Dawn mixture and were getting better results. We tried it and it even wiped out the bees we had living in the ivy.

(For some reason the Dawn brand is especially lethal.)

 

[AZZenny]

No, but right now I'm sort of impressed with green tea and DHC scalp-cleansing shampoo! I have heard that before about Dawn in particular. I'd forgotten about that.

Yesterday (finally!) I saw a couple dozen aphid lions, lots of little ladybird beetles, and other predatory insects busily combing the leaves. (Rustlers hit the ants' aphid ranch!)
I want to give them a chance to get going. It almost seemed like the tinfoil (no tinfoil hat jokes!) somehow brought out the beneficials -- or maybe it just brightens things up enough that I see them more clearly.

So tomorrow I'm going to select some aphid-heavy leaves and spritz with the chocolate juice this time, being careful not to spray any good guys. What could be more enticing than chocolate-covered aphids? To an aphid lion, I mean.

 

[DemsMyBoys]

Are ladybird beetles (never heard that particular name - regional thing?) the same thing as ladybugs? If so, I love them. Used to buy big cartons of them to release in my rose garden. (And they're just plain fun.)

 

[AZZenny]

Well, I used 'ladybird' because there's hundreds of related little beetles, and I'm not sure what the name for the little tiny dark ones I've mostly got is. Our classic spotted ladybug is just the pop-star of the batch. They are called 'lady beetles' as a class, from what I now read.

At first I thought they were flea beetles, but then realized they were eating aphids, not leaves. They are humping like crazy, when I would rather they be eating. Bonobos of the insect world.

Plus I was wrong, their alligator-looking larvae are different than ant lions (which I always mis-called aphid lions anyhow, just in case two wrongs make a right) but they are also voracious eaters of aphids and mealybugs.

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And I can attest that they are not impressed with chocolate-dipped aphids -- but the damn ants sure liked it. So ...cross that idea off the list.

 

[DemsMyBoys]

And I can attest that they are not impressed with chocolate-dipped aphids -- but the damn ants sure liked it. So ...cross that idea off the list.

I kind of wondered about that one but decided to be polite and not bring it up. Besides, you know a heck of a lot more about bugs than I do. I know two kinds of bugs: good bugs, bad bugs.

 

[Jersey Girl]

I have eggplant! I am so excited. My tomatoes are growing nicely as well. And, I recently put in a grapevine since my other one puttered out.

Anyone else have any updates?

 

[Linderbee]

Update: I still don't have a garden.


Yay, about your eggplants, though! I can't wait to start growing tomatoes, as well.

 

[Jersey Girl]

Bummer.

I can't wait to plant some more things this weekend. Not sure what though. Should probably ask around. Maybe some strawberries and herbs.

My other non-edible plants are doing great, too. I love having some space to plant!