The Gardening Thread

[GVF]

Blueberries are definitely producing this year. Sadly I think a small hail storm a few weeks back took about 40-50% of them. Looking forward to what’s left.

Cherry bushes are growing a ton with only a few cherries. The Juliet only had a few flowers while the Romeo had 20 or so. I’m sure next year will be a big step up in production for both.

Raspberries are growing well. I still need to pull down both arms of the trellis, but I don’t expect anything else other than another good crop this year.

Peach trees are growing very well with at least 5-6” of new growth wherever new growth is found. My Contender still has all/most of its baby peaches, but my Belle of Georgia dropped all of its baby peaches. Probably still too young of a tree. They are about 4-5’ tall (from the ground).

Buck snapped off some limbs of my 2nd year peach and apple, But they survived. Will do some selective pruning to help them shape back up. My raspberry hasn't broke ground yet. I may have lost it. It was a Caroline. Should have been pretty stable. But they are late summer/early fall berries, so I could be wrong. I may pull the mulch back on my blueberries and switch to pine straw. THey like hte acid and will grow much faster than with normal straw or mulch. Very healthy, but still somewhat small for heading into season 3. I guess 1st season doesn't count though cause they weren't gifted me till June or August.

 

[Tin Man]

Wife has some purple iris’ in a big planter. They are from her great grandmothers iris’.

After giving away hundreds of irises, I still have some of various colors - deep red with golden throats, dark purples, light purples, pale yellows, bright yellows, and purple & whites. The cluster of smoky pinks are in an area separate from all the others.

 

[zhangliao04]

Buck snapped off some limbs of my 2nd year peach and apple, But they survived. Will do some selective pruning to help them shape back up. My raspberry hasn't broke ground yet. I may have lost it. It was a Caroline. Should have been pretty stable. But they are late summer/early fall berries, so I could be wrong. I may pull the mulch back on my blueberries and switch to pine straw. THey like hte acid and will grow much faster than with normal straw or mulch. Very healthy, but still somewhat small for heading into season 3. I guess 1st season doesn't count though cause they weren't gifted me till June or August.

My raspberries are the Joan J variety. Thornless and can get pretty big. Already have a 2-3’ hedge of them in their normal spot. I’d say do a little dig and if they don’t pop by June that’s definitely a clue to get new ones.

Sorry to hear about the buck. What variety of peach and apple? How tall are they?

I never worried about pine straw. True that blueberries love acidic soil. Random question but with a reason: are they getting enough iron?

 

[GVF]

My raspberries are the Joan J variety. Thornless and can get pretty big. Already have a 2-3’ hedge of them in their normal spot. I’d say do a little dig and if they don’t pop by June that’s definitely a clue to get new ones.

Sorry to hear about the buck. What variety of peach and apple? How tall are they?

I never worried about pine straw. True that blueberries love acidic soil. Random question but with a reason: are they getting enough iron?

Peach - Contender. Been growing well, even after the buck pruned it. But it is now more one sided as the balancing side was snapped off. Will take a season or two to even back up with select pruning. But, it does have peaches on it. Tallest point probably now 6+ feet. It's 18+- months in ground. Planted Fall '23. Noticed lots of peach sap oozing out a few places the other day along trunck and branches. Might have been around damaged areas. I'll have to look again.

Apple - Liberty. Didn't get Buck pruned near as bad. Prob closer to 7'. Planted same time as peach, as a pollinator to a lone gala that is prob 6 years in ground now. It too is growing well. The original companion had died, and I just left it by itself for a while. Got apples on both this spring.

Blueberries. Just a guy I know that said if you mulch the blueberries with pinestraw they would grow exponentially bigger & faster due to the acidic seepage from the pine straw. I never have mulched in pine straw on blue berries, but I do mulch in hardwood mulch for moisture and weeds. My soil is kind of ashy, not the rich mid-brown color down the hill at my brother. 1/2 mile apart and i'm maybe 50-100 foot higher and our soils are drastically different. The blue berries down there that my dad planted in '96 don't get pruned. They are left alone. You have to climb hte ladder to pick the upper berries. Those plants are huge.

Be a shame to have to replace the raspberry. I got just enough last year to know the flavor of the Caroline was great. I did however relocate them in season after a few months in the ground. Planted them other side of house far away from the blackberry. They were doing great. Then started struggling around June. Did a little exploring, and the soil wasn't draining well in the hole, and it was sitting in water.Moved them to same side as Black berry, but about 70 foot away. They can't be close or they will foul out each others flavor and sweetness. Took the transplant well even though I knew I'd be sacrificing fall crop. Cut it back to ground this winter, mulched, and hasn't showed any new canes yet. Prob a better patch of soil as well.

 

[LouderVol]

got my garden planted easter weekend. the pre-bought plants are doing well. and the corn from a seed almost immediately popped up and looks great. seeded tomatoes and peppers haven't come up yet. I was going to give them another week to see what happens before pivoting.

 

[Tin Man]

got my garden planted easter weekend. the pre-bought plants are doing well. and the corn from a seed almost immediately popped up and looks great. seeded tomatoes and peppers haven't come up yet. I was going to give them another week to see what happens before pivoting.

My beans sprouted after the first rain.

 

[LouderVol]

My beans sprouted after the first rain.

I am not going to go the full three sisters route, but once the corn is established I was going to plant some beans to go with the corn.

 

[Tin Man]

I am not going to go the full three sisters route, but once the corn is established I was going to plant some beans to go with the corn.

Mine are bush beans, haricot vertes. I’ve never tried to grow them before.

 

[GVF]

Progess re-cap:

6x10 greenhouse went in over winter. In retrospect it has consumed some excess/unused space in garden normally reserved for lots of weeds.

Where I placed greenhouse ended up providing a couple feet down one side, front, and rear (faces road). So herbs have gone in on long side. Sunflowers seeded on along back. Strawberry bed located to other long side facing garden. Front mulched with old outdoor metal table relocated to look snappy. All of this has been mulched in with straw.

Got first row of 8 tomato plants in last night and strawed in.

This morning prior to leaving for work, dropped in 5 rows of corn at other end of garden. Outside corn rows at very end, gonna experiment with alternate mthod of growing taters...spread them out on loose soil and mound up straw over the top and let it go. If it works like it did in youtube video, kinda lift them up like a carpet when they're ready.

Gotta pick up a few 2x2's to finish the tomato trellises and green bean trellis'.

Carrots fixing to seed up in a 1x3 pocket grow bag thingy.

Still got a lot to go, but progress finally beginning. Most will go quickly once I get done with the mater and bean trellis lines. In the end, I'm still a few weeks earlier than last year. But, just as I'm set to roll through it the rains kicked in. Will attempt to mulch in as much of garden as possible as I go with straw, 10 year old hay rolls, and leaves.

 

[GVF]

Here we go.

 

[GVF]

I am not going to go the full three sisters route, but once the corn is established I was going to plant some beans to go with the corn.

I tried that one year. Works great if your corn is tall, strong and healthy. Mine corn didn't get over 3-1/2 feet tall, so I had a mess. It was an experiment though, as I had two rows of pole beans planted. It's also a great old method for small spaces too.