What are your plans for next year's gardening season?
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ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
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Planning next years garden. Need some suggestions.
Comments (18)Hello, I am tagging onto this thread so as not to break the rule of posting a topic that is already posted. I hope people are still reading this thread and will reply. :D I too am planning my garden for next year. We also just bought an acre, so I'm reading this thread with interest! We also have bermuda and johnson grass growing where I want my garden. We also have moles and grasshoppers in droves! I have created a layout and developed a bit of a plan. I know where I want my permanent plants like fruit trees and shrubs. I have a riding mower and am looking at buying a used tiller. But, my questions will help me make this decision! I am thinking about making the paths between beds lawn that I can just mow with the mower, then just rake or blow the grass clippings into the beds. Would it work to put pavers between the lawn path and the bed to keep the grass out? I am wanting to start some beds right away, so I could purchase some compost and supplies. However, I also have moving boxes I can use to begin a lasagna system. I have tons of leaves in the back area I can cart to the garden area. Do I need to till up any of this space? It will be 1/4 acre (includes area for fruit trees). Or, I could order some truckloads of compost and do it all at once. My biggest worry about that is working it into the existing dirt and killing the bermuda where I want to kill it. The existing dirt is like cement right now - even after watering. Does this mean I need a tiller? Or, do I hope that putting compost on top of compacted dirt will work? How well will plant roots break into that? Thanks for reading. emepro...See MorePlanning Next Year's Garden
Comments (3)Hi, Kimmsr I've been gardening in this yard for 20 years, so I am finally coming to understand some of its quirks. The biggest is that I'm on a mountain side and have a cool climate, with NO time when the average temperature is over 70 (daytime temp plus night-time temp divide by 2), so theoretically a lot of summer heat-lovers won't ripen here. It really limits second crops of anything, including peas. I've never gotten a summer-sown crop of peas to ripen, although they make a nice cover crop on bare soil. All hot-weather crops MUST be short season cultivars. OTOH, January King is a cabbage I've successfully grown before, planting in the spring when "spring" cabbages go in and harvesting in November. It actually never slows down, as we don't have a "hot" part of the summer. Soil test for organic matter: Unimproved soil 0%, garden beds worked for 20 years, 4%-8%. Soil type: clay with tuff (that's a volcanic rock) rubble. Drainage: hahahahahaha Dig a hole to bedrock, put a hose in it and turn it on, give up after half an hour. Nope, not going to happen. This is alpine desert, even with clay soil it doesn't hold any moisture except in the shade and under thick mulch. That's why I plan to FINALLY plant in the house's snow shadow. (I've always avoided it before because it makes for an even shorter garden season. DS's garden is there because he chose the location and I didn't argue with the kid who was going to do the hard work of digging it.) Tilth. Foreign concept. You would hate gardening here. Smell. Yup, a pleasant, dirty odor. Soil bacteria are rare here, they need organic matter to thrive, and organic mater burns out of desert soils fast. Life. Oh, yeah, got that. In my garden beds earthworms are thriving (and eating up my organic matter). DS and I consider ourselves excellent worm ranchers. But you only find worms in damp soil. It took me years of mediocre vegetable gardens to realize that 1 inch of moisture per week was laughable in this climate, and drip irrigation just makes clay pots that are a bit deeper but no wider than the damp spot on the surface of the soil if I used that "1 inch" advice. The worms are thriving now that I deep soak my garden at least every other day. Previously they were a bit sparse. The garlic, however, needs water in the winter, and I haven't been able to get it to them on the upper terrace. My hose bib is on the north side of the house, and if I left it "live" during the winter it would be frozen, and it is often buried anyway by what little drifted snow we get. Anyway, I really didn't need the advice on how to create a new garden, I have been here, done that. Different climates, different needs. I was just wondering if anyone else had deliberately planted their seeds in a dry late-autumn/early-winter garden rather than trying to plant their early-spring garden all at once during the late-winter storms? Wet soil and rotting seeds are NEVER a problem here (even our snow is dry), so maybe it's not possible in more hospitable gardening climates. Catherine...See MoreWhat are you planning to add to your yards next year?
Comments (44)This is what i actually added my original list queen palm mexican fan palm chinese fan palm another pindo palm giant varigated reed cordylines and dracenea in the ground yucca rostrata yucca alofolia yucca elephantipes musa basjoo sabal loisiana elepnt ears more cannas some more hardy cactus what i actually added queen palm- died because i over fertilized it another pindo palm i planted a seedling giant varigated reed cordylines in the ground- im trying to overwinter several green ones yucca alofolia - small one yucca elephantipes - seedling musa basjoo - 5 feet over the summer sabal loisiana - i added two sabal minors and planted two sabal louisiana seedlings elepnt ears - 1 alocasia being overwintered inside more cannas - yes lots of them some more hardy cactus- cow tounge opuntia and thornless opuntia here are some picture http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/palms/msg1116291621269.html?7 i added it as a link for next year i plan on adding ensete bannanas papaya purple castor beans elephant ears Here is a link that might be useful: http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/palms/msg1116291621269.html?7...See MoreWhat are you going to do differently next year in your garden?
Comments (9)bpgreen, thanks for helping me remember what RTF is. Steve said "...She'll eat some pie, but it's all about the crust for her.... I have to eat a whole pie myself!" Sounds like torture. I'd suggest you keep making 'em. Maybe one day she'll acquire a taste for it. I used to be a crust person myself. I discovered that I have 'superior' taste buds and now love the pie filling too. I just use much less spice. It was irritating to me to eat apple pie that tasted like cinnamon instead of apples. Many recipes call for too much spice, IMHO. I have a good no-sugar-added pie filling recipe.. I adjusted the spices to suit myself and, this year found a good low fat crust recipe. I'd never realized before having fruits fresh from my own trees, just how good they would be. The apples from my Fuji are different than those from a grocery store... more flavorful and even crisper. Don't rub in my lack of nectarines, Steve. :-( The thought of a juicy fresh nectarine or peach (or even frozen in a smoothie) sounds delicious! One year we got a box of nectarines fresh from a friends tree. Great fresh, needless to say, and the low sugar jam I made from them was fabulous! Parrots: Part of the reason I grow organically on my property..... I mostly have African parrots but also have a couple of Blue & Gold Macaws and a flight of 3 older cockatiels (2 well into their 20's). The "Psittacine" in my online name means 'of or pertaining to parrots'. I was a 'psittaculturist' (raised and studied them) for almost 30 years... retired from the "raising" part a few years ago. They definitely aren't for everyone because, if their needs are truly addressed, most are higher maintenance pets than a dog or cat. I've raised many species of parrots, or have studied them. I've also raised barn swallows, a killdeer, sage thrashers, humming bird, magpie, a starling (fun bird! much like a Magpie) and a common sparrow (Twiggy, one of my favorites)and maybe others I've forgotten. Have never been able to save a common robin, though. What species of conure was yours? Steve said: "Always wanted a falcon, though! Maybe someday..." Not an easy thing to get a raptor license. There is a guy that lives a few blocks from me who is a falconer and has a raptor rehabilitation license. His golden eagle died of West Nile Virus last year, (he now has a new one for his education program). They are beautiful animals. Crystal...See MoreOntario_Canada5a_USDA4b
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