Gardeners in the Asylum

[bvilchez]

Originally Posted by MarkinCA

Jay, where abouts are you now in SoCal and what variety of Avocado did you purchase? Is it a standard, semi-standard, or dwarf tree?

Mark, I'm in the Temecula/Lake Elsinore area....Wildomar to be exact. The avocado tree is a standard fuerte.

[357]

Good luck Jay. I'm in the process of buying a home. I'm hoping it moves along quickly. One reason is we were hoping to get some gardening going. Perhaps it'll just be planting some fruit trees and figuring out/managing the kinds of berries are already growing on the property.

[jjirons69]

Sadly I have nothing to add. My home plot is gone. My dad has a garden and has a few long rows of Irish and Red potatoes, way more than our 3 families will be able to eat. I planted some pumpkins for the kids in the back of his garden. Other than that, nothing to report. Glad to see you guys getting off you azzes and working in those gardens! Makes me smile.

[Chainsaw13]

I pulled a radish the other day, first I've ever grown. Never been a big radish fan, but my tastes have changed as I've gotten older. Was a little spicy, a little sweet too. Glad I planted a bunch more.

[azar]

just got all of my plants today. Planting this weekend will get pictures up soon.

[Chainsaw13]

Nicely done Mack.

They're calling for a possible freeze in my area next week. Ugh.

[azar]

Well chit guess I will only plant my seeds today weather showing 55 high and low at 35! Son of a beach!
I am so happy I didn't plant a week ago we had a hail storm roll through and ripped apart the flowers we had out.
Mack

[MarkinAZ]

Originally Posted by azar

Well chit guess I will only plant my seeds today weather showing 55 high and low at 35! Son of a beach!
I am so happy I didn't plant a week ago we had a hail storm roll through and ripped apart the flowers we had out. Mack

Mack, if you're planting tomatoes up your way, and with your type of weather in Wyoming, what varieties are popular? I would think some short season variety...

[azar]

Originally Posted by MarkinCA

Mack, if you're planting tomatoes up your way, and with your type of weather in Wyoming, what varieties are popular? I would think some short season variety...

Roma and big boy are the types I am planting plenty of grow time just getting impatient! Beds are 59* showing moist. Ambiant T* is 56* right now. I have my spinach lettuce and onions in.

[MarkinAZ]

Originally Posted by azar

Roma and big boy are the types I am planting plenty of grow time just getting impatient! Beds are 59* showing moist. Ambiant T* is 56* right now...

Nice varieties Mack! If I had the dirt area that some of you do, I'd be a planting fool and shoving asparagus, tomaters, and such in the ground... Right now, I have a couple of columnar apple trees that you see in the foreground. Not too much columnar shape as I've allowed them to spread out a tad. The one in the foreground has "sets" of marble size fruit at this time:


I have two tomato plants in containers. The one on the left is Celebrity (determinate variety) and the one on the right is Big Beef (indeterminate variety). Big Beef was a mistake. I wanted two Celebrities and pulled two out of the "Celebrity" box. When I got home and checked the tags, I saw that someone had misplaced a variety in the Celebrity area. Oh well, we'll have to run with Big Beef and see how it looks in a couple of months. Both plants are already setting fruit:



And then, my pride and joy I've been nurturing since 2004, as it developed from small pieces of bark (about 12" L x 5" W), is the Stag Horn plant:





I've been thinking about bring in a couple of 28" pots (similar to what the columnar apples are sitting in) to increase tomatoes, but I'll wait till next season on that...

[MarkinAZ]

Originally Posted by bvilchez

Mark, I'm in the Temecula/Lake Elsinore area....Wildomar to be exact. The avocado tree is a standard fuerte.

You're definitely in avocado country Jay. My parents have 104 acre's of avocado/grapefruit property in Pauma Valley (just South of your location). Your fuerte will have no problemo in surviving. You will basically have to go out of your way to kill it by not watering it.

Well, that standard tree can reach a height in excess of 25+ feet for one. At some point in time, and for convenience of harvesting, you will want to keep it trimmed low in time (maybe to around twelve feet). It will be easier to get a picking latter up into the branches that way. There are picking poles that extend with a small canvas bag on the end. You telescope the pole to the desired length, find a avocado, cut it, and it falls into the bag. However, that's some time down the road for you.

Make sure you have dug a nice size hole to plant the tree in, add the appropriate nutrients and compost and work it well into the soil, then water it all in, and plant your tree. Back fill with a mixture of the original soil and compost, and water in good. I don't know what the diameter of your tree's canopy, but your hole should be approximately the same size. When irrigating the tree, you should irrigate underneath the tree about the same diameter of the canopy. That is, the circumference of the spread out branches (hopefully that made some sort of sense). You can check out more here:

http://uccemg.com/Edible_Plants/?ds=530&uid=127

http://www.mastergardenerssandiego.o...%20Gardens.pdf

Originally Posted by azar

Mark absolutely beautiful to bad we weren't closer together I would give you the patio pots I have gathered over the years. An older neighbor of ours gave us a ton of them. She moved to a nursing home.

Thanks Mack. I'm sure someone in your area can make use of those pots...

[shilala]

I just checked the moon phase and we can't plant till the weekend after the 2nd.
I still have to amend the soil in the back garden, but we can plant the side garden whenever. It's ready to go.
I'm stoked. The last two years were awful. This year is gonna be awesome.

[azar]

Mark absolutely beautiful to bad we weren't closer together I would give you the patio pots I have gathered over the years. An older neighbor of ours gave us a ton of them. She moved to a nursing home.
I talked with another neighbor she is planting today. I am going to let today pass the 7 day forcast starting tomorrow seems promising at least away from the freezing mark!
Mack

[bvilchez]

Thanks for the advice Mark. The tree is in the ground already (planted by the nursery where we purchased it from) but they did add any amendments to the soil. It is starting to produce fruit though. Their guidance to us was water everyday for the first week and then 2-3x a week after that. They did make a 'well' of mulch around it and stated fill the 'well' and that will suffice for water for the tree. I will say I am somewhat fearful of adding fertilizer (too much or not enough). I have been keeping it simple by adding MiracleGro to it. Is that beneficial? BTW, thanks for the input. I will read up on those sites tonight.

[MarkinAZ]

Originally Posted by bvilchez

Thanks for the advice Mark. The tree is in the ground already (planted by the nursery where we purchased it from) but they did add any amendments to the soil. It is starting to produce fruit though. Their guidance to us was water everyday for the first week and then 2-3x a week after that. They did make a 'well' of mulch around it and stated fill the 'well' and that will suffice for water for the tree. I will say I am somewhat fearful of adding fertilizer (too much or not enough). I have been keeping it simple by adding MiracleGro to it. Is that beneficial? BTW, thanks for the input. I will read up on those sites tonight.

It sounds like you're all set there Jay. It appears that the nursery crew most likely prepared the soil prior to planting your tree. You may want to call and ask them if they did prepare your soil with fertilizer just for the fun of it. If they did, great. If they did not, there's most likely a reason. I would also ask about a fertilization program for your tree once it has established itself in your yard. The one thing you do not want to do is over fertilize and burn out your beautiful avocado tree.

Enjoy all of that guacamole Jay!

[azar]

After weather this weekend Monday rolls around still over cast T* are up a little and 7 day doesn't even come close to freezing! I got up early and here are my results
Cucumber/lettuce(seeds)

Onion bed

Tomatoes/squash/and broccoli.

More tomatoes/water melon/ and celery!

Later today I will be putting in my PVC for irrigation system we went with soaker hose simply because we got the hoses for cheap and we will see how well it works.
We have had successful years in the past. The past 2 years have been very disappointing as far as gardening go weeds ate my lunch the 1st year then our city workers sprayed last year for weeds and killed my garden 1 month in!

This is my first year doing raised beds and we are looking forward to our results. I began doing home work on these almost a year ago. After talking with a couple of friends and neighbors they are trying them also.

Mack

[Fordman4ever]

Looks great Mack

Here's my first raised bed






Now all I have to do is fill it with dirt and plant stuff. I wont be planting anything anytime soon though, getting ready to deploy over the summer.

[HK3-]

Garden update- I've got more lettuce than i can eat and I'm getting tired of eating it. Broccoli is looking good and probably has a few more weeks to go. Tomatoes are plentiful but still green. Zucchini has been picked a few times and is about to be in full swing along with the cucumbers.

Had to break out the 7dust yesterday due to the caterpillars having their way with my greens.

[azar]

Originally Posted by HK3-

Garden update- I've got more lettuce than i can eat and I'm getting tired of eating it. Broccoli is looking good and probably has a few more weeks to go. Tomatoes are plentiful but still green. Zucchini has been picked a few times and is about to be in full swing along with the cucumbers.

Had to break out the 7dust yesterday due to the caterpillars having their way with my greens.

Hal you are killing me I want a fresh salad out of garden so bad I can taste it! Tell you what send me some up if you have to much. Even mailed to me is probably fresher then anything we get here!
Ford that is a great looking garden spot. I am sorry you won't get to try it out this year. But you will have a jump on next year's growing season.
Mack

[HK3-]

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