Gardeners in the Asylum

[jjirons69]

My dad has at least an acre planted, all times of the year. Always has. It used to work me pretty good growing up. He gives away more than we eat. My mom is a chronic canner/jarrer, too. Now that I have kids, it's great getting them out there picking garden peas, picking up plowed potatoes, and all the other "fun" stuff gardens present. I've been trying to get him to plant peanuts for many years, as we all love boiled peanuts and I remember us growing them when I was a kid. Problem was, we never had good crop of nuts for various reasons. Finally he buys into it this year, only to find there's a shortage of Valencia peanuts due to the drought issues last year. Luckily I searched around and found him a 50 lb bag on line, $150 delivered. He now has enough to share with three of my uncles, who also were having problems finding nuts. He has sandy, well-draining soil, so I'm making sure we have an initial dose of potassium-rich fertilizer and a good dose of gypsum when they set flowers. We're going to crush them this year. It's gonna be a great 'I told you so' situation, plus it's good for the kids to see where those tasty boiled peanuts come from.

Rosemary, thyme, oregano, sage and a bunch others are from hot climates.
Basil will bolt, bloom and die back, but you can keep it pinched.
Most love the heat.

[shilala]

You guys live in heatland. How you plant there is beyond me. Last year was so dry when I went through VA that I was afraid one spark would take the whole state in a flash fire. I've never seen anything like it in my life, and we've had years of drought on end.
It's that "coupled with intense heat" thing that really makes things tough.
Growing herbs here is like growing weeds, literally. Plant them once and you never have to do it again. I always put them in thinking I'll use them in my sauce, but I never do. Weeze cooks with them, so it's nice to have them around nowadays.

We used to have long hot dry summers here. It's been three years since that happened. Most herbs are from the Mediterranean area, which is the same type of climate I'm supposed to have here. I use rosemary as a landscape shrub, thyme, sage, oregano and marjoram as border plantings. Deer and gophers don't eat them and they require almost no care. Mint grows wild. Dill, cilantro, parsley, basil, chives, other annuals go in the garden. Dill reseeds everywhere, cilantro used to. Fresh herbs are the best.

[hammondc]

Sweet. I shall plant herbs this weekend.

[jjirons69]

That wicked vine has me itching from fingertips to armpits. Arggg!!

[SvilleKid]

Rained day and a half ago. Garden went crazy! Corn doubled in height, all vine plants putting out runners like crazy. Weeds having a field day! I spent almost three hours tilling areas between watermelons, cantaloupe and sweet potatoes to turn weeds under. Rain expected again in two to four hours. So, some of grass will re-root, but I'll still be way ahead of them!

[jjirons69]

Looking good, Cliff! When you get enough, send some of the liquid sunshine our way. I can't remember the last rain.

On a side note, I stayed on top of that poison ivy with my creams. It's all but gone. I sprayed every leaf I could find this weekend with some double-strength Round Up.

[SvilleKid]

Originally Posted by jjirons69

Looking good, Cliff! When you get enough, send some of the liquid sunshine our way. I can't remember the last rain.

On a side note, I stayed on top of that poison ivy with my creams. It's all but gone. I sprayed every leaf I could find this weekend with some double-strength Round Up.

LOL. I'll see if I can bottle some of the rain! Congrats on kicking the Ivy's arse!! BTW, Ace Hardware has a weed killer that has the same active ingredient as Round-up, at half the cost (on the concentrate). I have some left, but it's out in the workshop, and rain just started falling. If you have an Ace nearby, I'd recommend it. It is a stronger mixture, and works faster and better than Round-up, IMO. As soon as I know I have a good 48 hours of sunshine coming, I will go thru about 6 gallons (mixed) of the killer around the house, barn, fence and yard areas. That should take care of the need to weed-eat for several months!!

[Jasonw560]

Originally Posted by hammondc

Sweet. I shall plant herbs this weekend.

And they shall do good. Very good soil up there. Our plants always did good, once we got the limestone taken care of.

[SvilleKid]

Arrrrrggggg!!! How many rocks can my garden grow???? No mater how many I throw out of garden, there's always more waiting. And I'm not even gardening in a rocky soil!!

[shilala]

I'm finally putting my real garden in. It's a wonderful day.
Now I can learn all about killing Ohio bugs and how to grow plants in clay.

Just about finished planting. Next is water and support. I'm still watering by hand.

[Mr B]

Originally Posted by BC-Axeman

Just about finished planting. Next is water and support. I'm still watering by hand.

I'm in the same boat Lance. I got everyting in, I just need to re-do my drip system.
Pics to follow.

[SvilleKid]

I've been holed-up in house last couple of days with a wicked head cold. I went out this afternoon after the sun was behind trees. Good thing! The broccoli has gone from 3 inches wide to that shown below in about three days! The corn has gone from tassels shrouded with stalk to full-blown, and ears are popping out and silking all over the patch! That's a 9 inch plate the broccoli is on. There are another half dozen heads that will be this size by Monday.

Mmmmmmm
Nice broccoli!

[lilcgrsmkr]

they are huge

[SvilleKid]

Corn is now in! First come, first serve. NOT putting any of it up this year (still have a bunch in freezer from last year). 58 ears from this last picking. Probably have picked 20-25 ears over last 7-10 days as they were ready. Big rain 2 days ago pretty much kicked the rest into high gear, so had to pick today.



I'm picking this many green beans every 2-3 days from 2 short seven-foot single rows (I finally measured them). I had not planned to put any beans up this year, but went ahead and canned 15 pints this past weekend.



Picked a few tomatoes today. Almost all are Roma grape variety. Full-size Romas and others varieties will start coming in next week, so I'll be canning tomatoes and sauce in a week or so.





Finally, Picked 2 quarts of blackberries from the fence line beside the garden:



I also picked enough cucumbers this past weekend to put up 20 half-pints of pickles (No pix)

[Trace63]

I got started really late this year, but so far I have about 10 rhizomes of hops down, various mints, brocolli, and lettuce. Planning to add in some tomatoes, various hot peppers, chives, rosemary, and perhaps Ill try my hand at red beans

[Jasonw560]

That broccoli looks fantastic! The corn's coming along nicely, as well.