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Weedinhoe's 2016 & Beyond Garden

314K views 4K replies 79 participants last post by  Weedinhoe 
#1 · (Edited by Moderator)
Hello! I am a Georgia veggie gardener and, weather permitting, try to have something going in the garden all year long. I don't have enough space to put up masses of any one thing because I grow a lot of different stuff so the aim is to put up what I can and eat seasonally and fresh.

When I retired five years ago I decided to convert the whole garden to 4'x18' raised beds using 2x8's and lengths of 1/2" PVC pipe around the bed perimeters as stakes to hold the sides and end pieces upright. That will allow me to disassemble and move the beds to another location quickly should the need arise. It's also handy in that I can just remove the end pieces, run the tiller through the beds and then replace the end pieces.

Since I am located on a road and the garden is visible from the road, the plan is to move the beds to the back of the property behind the woods if the SHTF. There's a creek back there for water and a pond uphill from which I can siphon water through hoses.

Here are some shots of my garden.

This pic is from last year but is pretty much what the garden looks like right now:


This is the south side of the garden as viewed from the top of the garden:


And this is a view from the other side:


And finally, this is a view from the bottom of the garden:
 
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#2,149 ·
When you dehead flower plants, they react by producing more. If the flowers are allowed to set seeds, then the plant thinks it's done its job ion life by reproducing and starts to shut down. So if you pop off those fading marigold flowers and for sure remove all seed heads, your plants weill be prettier and bloom a lot longer.

With zinnias I usually follow the stem of the fading flower down to where there's new growth branching off and cut off the zinnia stem just above that new growth. The new growth will end up producing a new flower.

And I'll probably save a few marigold seed heads for next year. :)

BTW, I used to plant marigolds too close together. But now that I see how big the "dwarf" plants get, they now get planted 18-20" apart. Elbow room! They do much better now that they can breathe.
 
#2,152 ·
I'm mainly focused on vegetable gardening, not one with flower beds all over the property like some of the folks in this area. Too much work and you can't eat them or put them up except Jerusalem artichokes which I can't seem to grow. But I do have two beds of flowers in the garden mainly for the pollinators and it also gives those two beds the spring/summer off from veggie duty. A heavy mulching pretty much keeps the weeds gone so they're not much trouble. To me deadheading is a relaxing thing that keeps your hands busy while you mind wanders.

I usually grow one 6-pack of red zinnias and the same for yellow zinnias, torch flowers and marigolds. That's it. Oh, and there's one bed of perennial asters where 5th Gear stuck in some divisions a friend dropped off a few years ago. They get no attention and have grown thick as ticks all on their own so there's no room for weeds. It's a solid mass that blooms in the early fall.
 
#2,153 ·
Agreed, my main focus is also vegetables. On my tiny plot I have to be very, very focused. Flowers are good for pollinators but also for medicine, like my comfrey. I also like them on the city side for OPSEC. The spot I’m rehabbing right now is pretty shady so not a good spot for veggies, plus it’s right next to the street. So, flowers it is.
 
#2,154 ·
August is dragging itself to the finish line. The first two 2" green-husked walnuts were on the ground today, probably more due to dry weather than the approach of fall. The first half of September here can be as hot and dry as August except for maybe the quick passing through of some tropical storm remnant.

The beans still aren't up but they've only been in the ground four days and they usually take about six. It seems like they've been planted longer than that but the calendar doesn't lie. Patience is not one of my virtues. No sign of the turnips yet either and they usually take only three days.

The good news is the first picking of Beit Alpha cucumbers, something new to the garden. A fall "toy".



Fifth Gear found them on the other side of their trellis, hiding among the coneflowers. I sure missed them. The packet narrative says they're best picked at 5-6" which the smaller of the two measures. The other is 9" long. The skin is covered with tiny prickless spines so that they feel like a light sandpaper. The vines are just covered in flowers so I'll have to be more vigilant. We'll see tomorrow how they taste.
 
#2,159 ·
All I had to do was publicly rag on the bean and turnips seeds for not coming up. They popped up the next day which was Day 5. :) Now I need to shame the Wando green peas for failure to appear. I think I'll give them a few more days and then replant, using the wet newspaper method to keep the soil cool in cast it's too warm.

The bed where carrots are supposed to go has overzealous zinnias and marigolds planted down the middle. The carrots are supposed to be seeded down the edges but the flowers need trimming back.



So that's what I did. Now there's a nice clear strip that I turned with a shovel so it's ready to go for Wednesday planting. The other side of the bed won't get its carrot seed until next month so the two sides will be staggered.



Since there was a nice breeze this monring I decided to fork up a bed where broccoli and cauliflower will go later. Some kind of weed had invaded and when I saw it was getting ready to drop seed everywhere it had to come out of there. It's a weed I've seen before but didn't know the name. Pretty prolific sucker.

I looked it up and it's called Chamberbitter, also known as Mimosa Weed and it does look like mini mimosa trees. The pics I took were somewhat blurry due to that breeze making them wave around so here's a link with lots of pics and information:


And finally a piece of advice I found.....

 
#2,161 ·
Today was the first time since May or early June that we were able to turn off the AC, open the doors and windows and change out the air! It only got up to 84 and there was a nice breeze all day. Woo hoo!

Yesterday morning I put the brassica plants out on the porch for a week of hardening off before next week's planting. They're three weeks old and by the end of next week will be ready to rock.



Then I put a table in the yard for three micro tomato plants that just weren't getting enough sun on the porch. That short bushy one on the left is Tiny Tim and it's loaded with flowers. The funky Gartenperle is in the middle and Bonte Tigre with the chartreuse foliage is on the right.



The Stickless Wonder peas are making. In fact, they're loaded with baby pods and I picked the first six readies last night. I will say that if one is looking for a field pea that won't run all over the place, this is the one. They're only about 2' tall. I planted turnips down that left side the other day, half now and the other half later. Last night the carrots went in down the edge of the zinnia bed.




Last night I transplanted out a zucchini plant (upper left corner of photo). Then on a whim I planted the last six Beit Alpha cuke seeds under the near end of the big trellis. There might be just enough time to get a few cukes made before frost. It's listed as a 55 day cuke. However the first 9" cuke was picked from the current plants just 49 days from sowing and should have been picked earlier at 6". 49 days from now is Oct 22 and the first killing frost is usually around Nov 10 or so. We'll see. Always pushing the envelope!



And finally I spied something at the base of one of the trellised sweet potato plants. One sweet is breaking the ground a little. Digging isn't too far away?

 
#2,163 ·
I just checked maturity dates for the 'Jewel' sweet potatoes I'm growing and it's 120-135 days. Looking at my planting date of May 1, they're at day 125.

Now, Sand HIlls Preservation Center has some great information on growing sweet potatoes. Unfortunately I can't provide the link because their site says my browser is no longer supported and I can't update the browser because this computer is now too old to handle new updates. However I have the article I copied in my files and here's how they determine readiness by tracking heat units:

From Sand HIlls Preservation Center:
- This is the most important thing when it comes to sweet potatoes. It is the heat units that determines success, not the number of days nor plant zone, but heat units. I have been an avid weather observer for over 40 years and have files of weather data to go with files of planting data. A few years ago , thanks to the help of one of our workers, I was able to put the two sets of data together and arrive at some conclusions that I had already suspected, but had never had the time to confirm. It takes about 1200 heat units for our early varieties to reach a decent crop of usable size roots. I use the term usable size as I think for many a sweet potato the size of a nice fat bratwurst is about the best size for keeping and for baking. Bigger than that is okay, but they do not sprout as well nor keep as well because they suffer from bruising much easier. The question you must then ask yourself is: “How is 1200 heat units determined?” I offer the following examples. To get heat units you take the day’s high temperature (maximum) and the day’s low temperature (minimum) and add them together. Then divide by 2 and subtract 55 from that. That gives you the heat units.

Example 1. Daytime high (maximum) 75 deg. F, night time low (minimum) 45 deg. F. Add those together and divide by 2 you get 120/2 or 60. Subtract 55 and you get 5 heat units. If that is your typical summer, then you will need 240 frost free days to get a crop. It doesn’t take a genius to realize that if you have summertime days like that, you are probably not going to have 240 frost free days because that is 8 months.

Example 2. Daytime high of 90 deg. F, night time low of 70 deg. F. That gives you a heat unit for the day of 25 which is just about perfect for maximum growth. Heat units per day greater than 25 seem to have more of a negative impact because of the massive amount of water lost through transpiration. If you can keep 25 heat units a day, then you only need about 48 days to get some useable roots. This is pushing it a bit as there are some limits to daily plant growth. The best growth I have ever seen here is planting around July 18 and having a decent crop by our first frost of October 2, which is about 76 days. By no means do we have temperatures that are perfect for growth each day here in Iowa, but hopefully this shows some data that can help you determine if you can grow a crop.


I need to check my weather data and calculate what the heat degree days number looks like. But then, the author states that 1200 heat units results in the smaller size potatoes he likes (like a fat bratwurst) so I'm reasoning that larger sweets would need more time.
 
#2,165 ·
I did do the heat units check. It was easy since I had the spreadsheet already set up from last year and it was just a cut/paste of daily temp data from my weather data into a new tab on the spread. Looks like 2786! That's plenty! I watered them four days ago and then remembered about withholding water several weeks before digging so now I'm not watering. However, Mother Nature decided to drop 8/10" last evening. :)

Now, Sand Hills likes sweets "the size of a nice fat bratwurst" and 1200 heat units does that for those varieties. I like mine somewhat larger so it will be interesting to see what they look like. He also recommends cutting the vines a few days before digging so I'll try that too. Something about toughening the skin.
 
#2,166 ·
Speaking of cutting vines before harvest: I just read in the local community gardens magazine about cutting down potato plants, then leaving the tubers in the ground for a couple of weeks to cure before digging. Have you ever tried that? I usually leave mine to cure in trays in my house, safe from critters, and have never had a problem with thin skins.
 
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#2,168 ·
It's time to plant out the brassicas or at least some of them since I have the starts staggered. The hole locations, both "plant now" and "plant later", are marked in both beds that will be used so today I will prep the "plant now" holes and stick plants in those tomorrow. Maybe that mess of weather coming into the Florida Big Bend and panhandle will bring us some rain. The plants would love that.

It's field pea picking time. It looks like those new Stickless Wonders are going to outproduce the Red Rippers, at least right now. The SWs are producing all at once and the Rippers make over a lot longer period of time. Still, there's an awful lot of Ripper vine out there with fewer flowers than usual. They're planted behind corn so it may be there was more residual fertilizer from the corn in the ground, making the peas put out too much vine. It's happened before. Maybe that's the difference between corn planted in a raised bed vs planted in regular rows in an open area. Fertilizer concentration in the bed. We'll see.

Yesterday I dehydrated both garlic and ginger for homemade powders. Having read about growing ginger in a container I've saved a nice fat piece with several eyes and will plant that in a 3 gallon bucket today.
 
#2,170 ·
That's a shame! I bet you rig up a good temporary holding place this year.

Yesterday I got the first round of brassicas planted out. This bed got the first 6 of the eventual 12 Packman broccoli, 2 Jacaranda broccoli (a trial from donated seed) and three of the eventual nine cauliflowers. There will also be four Packman broccoli that I'm doing from seed I collected this spring, just to see what comes from that hybrid plant. The white markers are where succession plants will go.



The other bed got 2 kale and 1 collard (enough greens for two people), three of the eventual 11 cabbages and two Red Bull Brussels sprouts. Yeah, I know. I swore never to do them again. Well, into the breach one more time! I was given some seed by someone who successfully grows them in north Florida so perhaps they'll do here. But this IS IS IS the very last time if they don't make. Tomorrow I'll mulch both beds with leaves. Those two huge piles gathered last fall are dwindling and will probably run out just as this fall's leaves start coming down.



Meanwhile the peppers are still putting out. All the jalapenos are red and boy, they make some sweet poppers. Never had fully ripe jalapenos for poppers before.



Today I started the last three cauliflowers and a six pack of freebie seed of Komatsuna (Chinese spinach. I think). I have a vague memory of having tried this before and it being a flea beetle magnet. We'll see. Free is good so I'll have no qualms about yanking them out if they become a problem. :)
 
#2,171 ·
I just checked my garden notes and yep, I have tried Komatsuna before. It was in the spring of 2017 and the Komatsuna was pulled out with a note saying "Eat up w/flea beetles. Try again in the fall". Well, I never did that so I guess that fall planting will be this year and we'll see.

There weren't many flea beetles this year so far. In early spring I did spray the brassica beds with pyrethrin right after initial planting and that might have knocked them out before they could do damage. Sometimes timing is everything.

Come to think about it, insect pressure this year has been light. A lot fewer squash and stink bugs and very few leaf footeds so far but we're coming into that time of year when leaffooteds start up in numbers. Again, we'll see.
 
#2,172 ·
This is a Zuchetta rampicante squash plant that has grown this year from the kitchen scraps compost pile from seeds tossed away with last year’s scraps. It is the first time any cucurbit plant has survived, let alone produced anything growing there. It only gets a little sun briefly in the morning and again in late afternoon and to date everything else has funked up and died with disease. I am impressed! The plant is so happy there’s another main vine marching the other way to go visit the house plants that are spending the summer outdoors.



The narrative I’ve read on this says that if picked when 18” long or less the squash can be cooked and eaten like any other summer squash so that’s what we’re doing today to test that. I measured this one and it’s exactly 18” from under the stem cap to just above the bulby part.



I peeled it as the skin seemed just a bit thicker than a zucchini’s. Then it was all sliced up and will be steamed to go with lunch.







If you look at the bulb end sliced open you can see how little flesh is between the outside and the start of the seed cavity. That was very evident when a mature squash was cut open for baking. It’s all seeds so not worth the effort to scrape them out because there’s not much left to bake. The long neck bakes well and is very mild flavored, somewhat like spaghetti squash.

I wonder if there’s time for one more of the two flowers out there to make one more squash. :)
 
#2,173 ·
This morning I went to the garden to pick up the last four Black Diamond watermelons that never really finished because the vines finally funked up and died. They’ve just been sitting there a good while and I cut them open with a machete. They look the same as the one that did mature and slip off the vine earlier this summer. I don’t think I’ll grow any more next year and will stick with the Charleston Grays that were so good.



Earlier this summer a plant came up behind a trellis in an area where I had planted Jerusalem artichokes. Could this be the sole survivor of those I planted earlier? Not knowing what the JA plants look like, I let this new plant grow. They had come up back then and when about 3” tall something munched them hard one night and then totally made off with the tubers by the next evening. There were just small indentations in the ground where they had been.

Fast forward to today when I was messing with the watermelons. I saw two yellow flowers behind the trellis. Lots of flower buds yet to open. It’s going to be pretty.



Then I saw that the plant I had let grow had gotten tall enough that the wind with the last storm had blown it over so that it leaned on the trellis.



After looking at internet photos of Jerusalem artichoke flowers, I think this is what it is! Can anyone confirm that it is or is not a Jerusalem artichoke? If it's not, don't be afraid to bust my bubble. It's still going to be a pretty plant I'll keep and just transplant it somewhere else this fall.

Hopefully it IS a survivor; my one and only. My $15 plant. LOL! And if it is, at least I’ll be able to dig the tubers later and replant the bed. Come spring when they start to pop up I’ll put protection over them. Sometimes Mother Nature lets you win one. We'll see.
 
#2,177 ·
Uh Oh.... MISINFORMATION ALERT!

Now and then I've referred to Stickless Wonders as field peas. I forgot... the Stickless Wonders are NOT field peas! They are a yardlong bean with edible pods! Yes, cousins to field peas but they're a bean. They sure do look like field peas when they're growing though and I've been picking them right along with the field peas and shelling them out:



Field peas on the left, Stickless Wonder yardlongs on the right:



In fact, I now remember that the reason I tried these this year was to find a bean that will produce in the summer heat here, a succession crop to the regular bush beans. I've tried the trellis type of yardlongs with varying degrees of success. Only one of those did really well the first time planted but not in succeeding years.

The other reason I tried these was that they supposedly don't need support. For the most part, that's true. They spread a little but don't go running outside the 4' wide bed. That's a plus.

So yesterday I picked the SWs younger; we cut them up and cooked them with a handful of regular green beans and they were good. I could tell which were the SWs as they were a lighter green and they have a slightly different flavor, like a hint oif a floral note. Different but good.

For me, it's a keeper! These will do the job as a summertime bean, both eaten green and as a shelly bean. Sometimes the “toys” work out!
 
#2,178 ·
Bad news. My computer died this morning. It was an old 2009 Mac that can't be fixed (no more parts available) and the auto backup stopped functioning about three weeks ago. It had been saving my stuff to an external hard drive so I hope there's only a small portion of my garden spreadsheets missing. I also have some stuff saved to flash drives. We'll see. I have an appointment (yes, these days one must make an appointment) at the Apple Store tomorrow and it's way past time to open the wallet for a new machine..Until then I can use 5th Gear's computer.

Today I will start three more microdwarf tomatoes.
 
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