The Vegtable Garden Thread (3 Viewers)

[BrotherRob]

Beans and peas are all up, birds got some of the pea sprouts before I had time to put foil flags up to scare them off. I planted Marigolds anyplace a plant was missing as well as randomly throughout the beds. Also have chard, beets and carrots up.

Also got the eggplants, cantaloupe, cucumber, yellow squash and zukes in the ground. Planted four different kinds of spuds and about 30 onion sets.

We have a cold snap predicted for next week, nothing below 40'ish so we should be okay other than slowing down the growth.

Bird netting is your friend. I just put up netting today. Damn finches turn on my peppers for food as soon as it gets hot.

It's funny how the growing seasons differ in the lower deserts. I had seven foot snow peas until a few weeks ago, tomatoes, nearly dead. Chard, onions, garlic, peaches and beets are all near maturity. Getting a steady supply of peppers, but that will taper off until fall. Squash and melons will grow in the summer with some shelter, but getting them to produce is dicey. Herbs, especially basil and okra are the two things that really thrive in our heat. Both will grow like weeds all summer.

 

[rusty_tlc]

I just use some sticks and add a foil "flag" to each one, the birds stay away and I don't have to fool with netting. I did the foil thing to stop the English sparrows from nesting in the rafters of our porch at the old house. Worked great.

Hanging up old CD's works too.

 

[BrotherRob]

I tried the foil thing, the fishing line thing and every other thing I could come up with. The finches pretty much laughed at me. I've had some luck with setting out bird seed on the other end of the yard as a distraction. A barrier seems to be the only sure fire deterrent.

 

[rusty_tlc]

We have starlings, they pretty much leave everything alone after the plants get their true leaves. The birds just like to eat the sprouts, some kind of hippie variety I guess.

 

[highlandcruzer]

Rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain.... I can't get anything done.

Un-possible.

On a good note...I've got new potatoes the size of silver dollars. ....................sitting in mud. 200 tomato plants planted...in the mud. Weeds not being weeded....in the mud.

 

[splitshot]

Rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain.... I can't get anything done.

Un-possible.

On a good note...I've got new potatoes the size of silver dollars. ....................sitting in mud. 200 tomato plants planted...in the mud. Weeds not being weeded....in the mud.

Send some this way, all we have been getting is zero humidity blow torch winds.
I did harvest the ajo de elephante today, love that dirt/garlic smell.

 

[rusty_tlc]

Send some this way, all we have been getting is zero humidity blow torch winds.
I did harvest the ajo de elephante today, love that dirt/garlic smell.

I hear that, we have a multi-thousand acre wild fire burning south of here and it's only May.
A little rain would help a lot.
Who knows what it will be like when fire season really gets here

 

[Mace]

You would have been amazed at the amount of smoke that made it's way down here from that fire.

 

[spressomon]

I hear that, we have a multi-thousand acre wild fire burning south of here and it's only May.
A little rain would help a lot.
Who knows what it will be like when fire season really gets here

Rain would certainly help...so would a whole bunch of common sense. That's two huge destructive fires within the past 6-months up here that could easily have been avoided with just a smidgeon of common sense.

And it can be argued the Windy Hill fire could have been averted if Nevada Power had just maintained the electrical transmission lines, that arced and caused that catastrophic fire event, to a higher standard and/or PM.

 

[spressomon]

You would have been amazed at the amount of smoke that made it's way down here from that fire.

Wow...wouldn't have guessed given the distance between!

 

[highlandcruzer]

Send some this way, all we have been getting is zero humidity blow torch winds.

I'd love to. I know what's gonna happen though...If the pattern of the last few years remains the same, at some point it's just going to STOP. Then the the rest of the summer will be drought. Wha-ya-gonna-do?

 

[rusty_tlc]

It rained on and off most of the day today. However, the temps are dropping. I covered the Tomatoes, hope the squash and other delicate stuff makes it through the night. Temps are expected to be in the 80's next week.
Gardening in the Sierra, what can you do?

 

[BrotherRob]

Some cool weather, finally, so time to do some garden clean up. I had a handful of early maturing onions and garlic that needed harvesting. Mostly little stuff, but they smell great.

I've always noticed a vast difference in the size of the bulbs. I've always attributed this to variations in sunlight. I always get far more than I need, so I never really worried about it. Personally, I like the greens, so I consider a nice onion or garlic to be a bonus.

I noticed a trend today with the onions that has never really caught my attention. Any plant that produced a flower had little to no bulb, despite a significant plant above ground. Conversely, I had several plants with greens no bigger than a chive that still produced nice pearl sized onions.

It got me wondering if I should pay more attention to suppressing the flowers. So a questions to all of you gardeners. Do you try to dead head your onions? Does it make a difference?

 

[highlandcruzer]

Yeah, I deadhead onions. Anytime a plant starts to make seed, it stops doing whatever else it might have been doing...Like making roots or making leaves. You can have a lot of control over the quality of the produce if you keep that in mind. I try to prevent any plant from producing seed, or fruit until I feel the "body" of the plant has reached sufficient size to produce exceptional "fruit". For example, I typically pull the blossoms off of tomato plants until the plants are 3 to 3 1/2 ft. + tall.


... Anyone else surprised to see that most of the regulars in this thread are desert-dwellers? Just an observation. Keep up the good work fellas!

 

[BrotherRob]

... Anyone else surprised to see that most of the regulars in this thread are desert-dwellers? Just an observation. Keep up the good work fellas!

Low deserts are great places to garden. It's one of a very few climates where something will grow in every season. Some hardy annuals can even be grown as perennials. We also don't have a lot of insects.

 

[rusty_tlc]

High desert gardening is an adventure, last weekend temps were in the 80's with 50+ lows, today we expect a high of 49° last night was cold, not sure how cold.
Of course I planted basil and a bunch of other delicate herbs over the weekend so I was compelled to cover the garden last night.

I need to make some kind of system to cover stuff easily, maybe double as a cold frame to extend the season a bit.

I'll get to that right after the Rubicon trip.

 

[Mace]

so, I think I let my lettuce grow too much. It looks like a weed now..

 

[spressomon]

^^^ Happens quickly with the 100*+ temps you guys have had!

 

[rusty_tlc]

so, I think I let my lettuce grow too much. It looks like a weed now..

I'd say lettuce season is over for you.

You get another shot this fall though, and with a modest cold frame you can grow lettuce all winter down there.

 

[BrotherRob]

High desert gardening is an adventure, last weekend temps were in the 80's with 50+ lows, today we expect a high of 49° last night was cold, not sure how cold.
Of course I planted basil and a bunch of other delicate herbs over the weekend so I was compelled to cover the garden last night.

I need to make some kind of system to cover stuff easily, maybe double as a cold frame to extend the season a bit.

I'll get to that right after the Rubicon trip.

I built a simple pergola over mine. I put shade cloth on it in the summer. My intent was to hang plastic on it in the winter but that's proven to be a PITA. I do put plastic on the top, that seems to cut the frost damage but freezes are still a challenge.

Depending on the size of your garden, the pop up green houses might be a good choice.