Gardeners in the Asylum

[Mr B]

Here's a couple of garden update videos

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lJF82s_pncU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GvJmX5w7Fj0

[jjirons69]

Top notch, Brent!

[shilala]

Originally Posted by Mr B

I am having problems with Leaf Miners (first time ever) in my Chard, Spinach and Beet leaves.
What Non-Toixic methods do you guys use for these?

1/3rd strength Sevin applied as often as it takes to kill them.
I suppose you'll immediately think "that's isn't non-toxic?" Thing is, the active ingredient, carbaryl, evaporates off very rapidly leaving only inert ingredients like chalk and standard nothings. If people happen to eat some, the body quickly breaks it down and removes it. It's poisonous to invertebrates, not so much to vertebrates.
What ultimately made me trust it is that it's milk-safe. You may not be aware of the stringent tests and standards milk farmers are held to, but let's just say that they're insane. Cows can eat this stuff on their feed all day and it'll never transfer laterally to the milk. Heck, a woman can't even eat broccoli without giving the baby gas, right?
Sometimes we out-think ourselves with "safe alternatives". I'd far rather eat Sevin than Safer Soap, or any of the other "non-toxic" concoctions I've come across over the years.

Badass videos, too, my man!!! Lookin good!!!

[shilala]

Weeze and I transplanted everything on Saturday. The plants have gotten a couple days hardening in the wind, I just dragged them out into the sun for their first hour.

[Mr B]

Lookin good Scott. last week I transplanted about 18 peppers, 6 watermelons, 12 pumpkins, 12 Zucchini, and about 10 of my largest tomatoes.
I still have another 24 peppers, 20 tomatoes, 7 cantaloupe and 12 Red Basil to transplant.
I am giving alot of stuff away this year.

[Mr B]

Garden update video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_XMwdgXlIY

[shilala]

Thanks for the video, Brent!!!

I picked up some onion sets last night, I need to go out and get them planted. I also need to plant carrots, snow peas and blue lake beans.
The rest of the garden will go in a couple weeks from now.

[Mr B]

I finished up installing the Raised bed last night. I will line the bottom with cardboard and attach a weed barrier matting. We dont get gophers or moles here. I guess that's a nice trade for having horrible, solid Adobe Clay soil. Hope to fill it w/ soil and compost this Sat (crossing fingers).
That 4 foot section in the old raised bed where I have been hardening off my plants (where the Red Solo Cups are), still needs to have the Collards put in and be seeded for Radish and Carrots. So much to do and time is slipping away here.
Hope to do my final batch or transplants in the next few days.

[shilala]

The whole garden is in (or should I say all the gardens are in?), I even planted the corn.
I have NEVER planted this early. It's a full 24 days early of the norm for this region, and it gains a day or so every year.
It used to be that I had to wait for June 10th to plant if there was a full moon near prior. I can remember many, many a frost after June 1st. It was an old joke, folks planting on the holiday so they could get in a practice run. You could count on that late freeze if the moon was right, and everyone who was getting an early jump had to scramble to buy new plants.
Heck, now I'm hardening plants outside on the 1st of May. That's INSANE-O.
I like it, and I'll be dead before there's any such thing as global warming, so party on!!!

I hope all you guys will get some pics and reports on here soon.

[shilala]

Jamie, we planted a whole bunch of the heirloom lettuce and spinach you sent us a few years back. They're coming along nicely so far. We'll see how it goes!!!

[Chainsaw13]

Replanted my garden today. Jumped the gun last week and put all my plants in, only to have it drop to 32F on Tuesday. Lost half my plants. So today while at the farmers market, picked up replacements. I've got three types of heirloom tomatoes in now, along with corn, squash, eggplant, broccoli, red bell peppers and bush cucumbers.

[Mr B]

Sorry to hear that Bob. Hopefully round 2 will go better.

[jjirons69]

Originally Posted by shilala

Jamie, we planted a whole bunch of the heirloom lettuce and spinach you sent us a few years back. They're coming along nicely so far. We'll see how it goes!!!

Let's hope the seed is still viable. Fingers crossed!

I cleaned out the lettuce and garden pea debris yesterday. Going to get more peppers to put in their place. The lettuce garden was spectacular this year. Never eaten so much lettuce in my life.

My squash are full of 1"-3" fruit and growing daily. Cukes are coming along well, too. Starting to get back around normal temps with the very cool spring finally leaving us alone.

[shilala]

She's viable, at least to some length, Jamie. I've got all sorts of stuff growing where I planted the seed, and there's little tiny green and purple lettuces in there, I just checked.

[Mr B]

I finished up the garden this weekend.
I put in:
15 tomatoes (3 Woodle Orange, 2 Golden Sunray, 3 Red Calabash, 4 Brandywine, 3 Sweetie.
42 Peppers: Green Bell, Poblano, Jalapeno, Cayanne, Jalapeno M, Habanero
3 Jack-O-Lantern Pumpkins
3 Zucchini, Dark Star
3 Watermelon, Red Crimson
3 Cantaloupe
3 Pickling Cucumbers
Red Basil, Sweet Basil, Lemon-Lime Basil, Italian Parsley

My Back Hurts! I will try to get a video done soon.

[Coach Deg]

Ants!!!! How do I get rid of red ants??

[Mr B]

I love the Combat brand ant houses. These are they type where they bring the poison back to the queen and colony and Kill em All Jack.
They work great.

[SvilleKid]

Planted "skips" and washed out areas (from the massive rains Friday and Saturday). I think I planted more peas and melons than were left standing. Garden NOT on a slope or prone to flooding. But eight inches of rain in 24 hours...... Nothing stands up to that. I have to make a walk thru my woods in next day or so, to see if any trees down from the saturated ground. With that much rain, the weeds are going crazy, and ground still to wet to hoe or roto-till up weeds. Going to be a busy week to get back ahead of garden.

[Coach Deg]

Originally Posted by Mr B

I love the Combat brand ant houses. These are they type where they bring the poison back to the queen and colony and Kill em All Jack.
They work great.

Obviously safe in the garden?

[SvilleKid]

Originally Posted by Coach Deg

Ants!!!! How do I get rid of red ants??

A couple years ago, I purchased ant bait from my local Ace Hardware that was garden-friendly. The bait containers are long gone so I don't know brand, but I bet they still carry it.

I purchased them specifically because they were garden friendly. And they did an excellent job. They were "bait type", where the workers carried the killer back to the queen.