Misc fall fashion questions
mtnrdredux_gw
6 years ago
last modified: 6 years ago
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robo (z6a)
6 years agolast modified: 6 years agoFunkyart
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Misc raised bed questions
Comments (10)I learned the hard way that it's a good idea to uncover the soil in your raised beds about two weeks or so before your last frost date and leave it uncovered until night temps are above sixty. Mulch does prevent weeds, and it does hold in moisture, but it also holds in COLD and you want the soil to warm up this time of year. Once the soil is warm enough (hold your bare hand on it. It shouldn't feel cold) then put your mulch back down. I include a link for you just to give you an idea. You can definitely sow lettuce right now. Also greens, carrots, spinach, onions, and snap peas (and more). These like cool temps. In my garden, they are usually done about the time I plant cowpeas and butterbeans. I pull them out and immediately plant the beans. Just as a note, if you plan well, you can get three or even four crops a year from each bed: early spring (as listed above), two crops in summer, and fall/winter (reruns of the early spring crops). This is known as succession planting. I have nine raised beds. Last year, I planted 3 beds each of the tomato family (also includes eggplants and peppers), the bean family (English peas, cowpeas, butterbeans, shellie beans, snap beans), and the squash family (cucumbers, summer squash, winter squash, and melons). I planted one bed of each about a week after my last frost date, then another bed of each a month later, then four weeks later, I planted the third bed of each group. By that time, the first ones that were planted were starting to poop out (not the tomato ones, as they go all season). So I began replanting, bed by bed. I loved it. I was never overwhelmed with planting or harvesting, and at mid summer, I planted different crops so we didn't get sick of eating the same thing. By keeping the beds divided into thirds, it makes crop rotations much simpler. By the way, it will be a tremendous help to you if you will keep a garden calendar. Write down the dates that you plant things, when you have first harvest, and when they are done. Next year, you'll be so glad you did. Also, make notes later, like "too early", "too late", etc. I am assuming that your beds are narrow enough for you to stand on the outside of the bed and reach into the middle? If so, when you plant, you can plant your crops in blocks. If the seed packet says to plant, say, 6 inches apart in rows 2 feet apart, ignore the row part. Plant everything six inches apart in all directions. You'll be amazed at how much food you can get from a relatively small bed. Check out the Square Foot Gardening Forum for more info on this technique. If you're into aesthetics too, take a look at the Potager forum. Never hesitate to ask questions! Chances are there are others wondering the same thing, and sometimes the posters include extra tidbidts of information that are extremely valuable to us all! Here is a link that might be useful: My raised bed garden...See MoreReleasing Home Raised Mallard Duckling & Other Related Misc. ?'s
Comments (16)We live in Columbus OH and while mowing our hay fields unfortunately hit a mother mallard who had built her nest in the hayfield. The 9 eggs were not damaged so I put them in an incubator. Nine days later, 8 of them hatched. They are now just 2 weeks old so I have a few more weeks with them. From what I have read on the internet, their instincts should take over and come Fall, they should fly South for the Winter as nature intended. For now, they are in a large blow up baby pool in our home office with another one just like it outside with shallow water in it for swimming. For now, I carry them to/from the house in a big box so they can play in the pool outside. I put a board in the pool so when they are ready they just walk up it and jump out of the pool. Since they have imprinted on me, they follow me around our yard foraging for bugs and whatever else they find of interest. Since the pool wont keep them contained for much longer (I dont want to come down one morning and find them all running around the office leaving their calling cards)we are in the process of modifying a 10x10 dog run in our backyard for them to move in to. We fashioned a floor from plywood so predators cannot dig underneath and get them and are putting on a "roof" along with a tarp to protect them from rain. We also put up a 2.5 foot barrier around the edge attached to the walls for extra protection. We will most likely put in some sort of "house" or box for them to get into at night for sleeping. The plan is as they start to grow their adult feathers and attempt flying we will allow them to come and go from the "coop" during the day at will and will lock them up at night for protection. Then, when it is time Im assuming they will leave. I bet they will come back next year though; hopefully. It would be nice to see them again and see how many were able to avoid the hunters....See MoreSummer cow pea and misc Question
Comments (1)I usually start losing my black-eyed peas this time of year to a wilt fungus. But mine still ripen even with that. If they aren't producing like crazy right now, I'd pull them and plant something else....See MoreMisc beginner questions
Comments (27)RoseBeginner - I grow all the roses you list in my zone 5 Nebraska except Miss All American Beauty HT, and for the most part these should be able to overwinter fine. The fussiest will be your two HTs, particularly Barbra Streisand. She's a lavender and they're notorious for being weak growers, though mine has sort of survived last winter. I think I'm going to need to put her in my sunny side of the house and provide some extra winter protection for her to realistically survive most zone 5 winters. I don't know about All American Beauty - some HTs winter over just fine even though they're rated zone 7, but a little protection may help. What people do for winter protection depends on what you're protecting AGAINST in your winters. On the east coast, you're protecting against too much moisture causing disease problems over the winter and early spring, while still trying to moderate the effect of temperatures if you don't have reliable snow cover. I think mounding the soil to protect the grafts of those HTs would be a good idea if they're not already buried, and putting an inch or two extra soil around the base of the other roses sounds like a reasonable compromise. I don't know if the soil is going to increase the odds of surviving cane in your Julia Child or not - it depends on your zone. Even with maximum winter protection at least 80% of my roses don't have surviving cane in an average winter, but once they're well-established they regrow and bloom well regardless. Snow is an excellent form of winter protection if you have it. In my zone, I'm protecting mostly against the wind and ambient air conditions, since we don't have reliable snow cover in winter. "Wind chill" doesn't really apply to roses, but the wind does dry them out and reduce their robustness at handling the winter temperatures. In extremely dry places, some folks will spray Wilt-Pruf to reduce moisture loss on roses, but I haven't found much effect of that in my zone. I stack standing filled leaf bags around the most tender rose bushes, leaving some air space in between. This makes a "down coat" of protection for them, and I pull out the leaves for mulch in the spring. For the less tender roses, I put filled leaf bags horizontally around the edges of the bed for a little wind and temperature buffering. For the leaf or mulch protection, it's best to wait till the ground is frozen solid, since most of us also want to protect against critters building their winter homes in that mulch right next to our tasty roses. Even in dry zones like mine, it's important to get that winter protection pulled back in early spring (when the snowdrops or crocus bloom if not before), or the spring rains and snow melt can hold moisture against the canes and invite disease. Bottom line is that you don't really have to do anything much to protect the roses you have, except perhaps Barbra, but you can experiment a bit if you like. Remember that roses take a good 3 years to mature and bloom as well as they're reported, so don't get discouraged if the next two years or so aren't very exciting. New Dawn will take longer to build those climbing canes so you may not see much significant climbing or blooming for 4 or even 5 years. Be patient, and it should do well for you in the long run. Cynthia...See MoreRita / Bring Back Sophie 4 Real
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6 years agolast modified: 6 years agoRita / Bring Back Sophie 4 Real
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6 years agolast modified: 6 years agoRita / Bring Back Sophie 4 Real
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6 years agolast modified: 6 years agoRita / Bring Back Sophie 4 Real
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