Official 2011 Gardening Thread

[MOhillbilly]

The times gettin close for indoor seeders & planning for early varaties.

tips, tricks, varaties you like. Where to buy. What to buy. Does & donts.

Your personal picks.

All things gardening.


What you got?

[BigOlChiefsfan]

Either one will work - bagged topsoil + bales of peat moss is probably easiest if you're making 'box gardens' instead of growing raised beds on the ground. The bagged stuff has usually been sterilized to prevent some virus', etc...if you're using raised beds in the ground, just add a lot of peat moss. Then add some more peat moss.

[vailpass]

Originally Posted by BigOlChiefsfan

Either one will work - bagged topsoil + bales of peat moss is probably easiest if you're making 'box gardens' instead of growing raised beds on the ground. The bagged stuff has usually been sterilized to prevent some virus', etc...if you're using raised beds in the ground, just add a lot of peat moss. Then add some more peat moss.

Pete moss on the bottom then soil on top or mix the two together?

[2112]

Originally Posted by tooge

Ok, I got one for ya.
Not as much garddening as , uh, orcharding?
I have some apple trees, some peach trees, some nectarine trees, and some plum trees I planted over three or four years. The youngest are the apples and they are about 3 years since planted. I get tons of blossoms on all the trees most years, but then shit goes haywire. For example, this year, only about 10 blossoms total on peach and nectarine trees, all fell off. A shit load of blossoms on the apple trees, they all turned brown and fell off. I got 1, thats ONE, effin apple. The plums seem to blossom every year, then I get tons of little plums the size of maybe three bbs, then they start to wither up and fall off. What gives?

The Apple trees probably have rust (a fungus that is very difficult to treat) you can't spray it because you would have to spray it like 9 times, 3 before bud break, 3 during bud break, and 3 after bud break. and if you miss just one piece all that work is for nothing.

I have had moderate success with trunk injection in March.

[BigOlChiefsfan]

Mix 'em. What I do is lay a tarp down, cut open a bale of peat and bust it up on the tarp. Shovel out the grass in the bed and stack it (green side down!) for next years mix, then add some of the soil starting about 3-4 inches down to my peat. Get your kids to help with the next part. Lift one corner of the tarp and walk in towards the center until the dirt/peat start to mix. Lay the tarp down, go to the next corner and repeat. You can also add pearlite (which is basicaly baked mica, it's a very light 'expanded' rock that will not weigh much and will hold water well). It's spendy, but if you're growing in boxes or containers it's a good idea, it solves 2 problems you'll be cranky about otherwise.
I plant a large pot intensively. One tomato, several lettuce plants and several onion sets, and a few radishes. As I pull something out, I plant something else in with. Go hit the library, there's a ton of books on container gardening. When I lived on the plaza, I joined the KCMO community garden, that might be a good idea for you to show you kids as well. I grew tons of veggies in that little garden. Grew a few tomatoes on the balcony, too. Bought a big bag of grow mix, cut 2 X's in the top and poked a small hole in the bottom. Put 2 patio-sized tomatoes in the X's and watered carefully. Worked like a charm.

[cabletech94]

Originally Posted by vailpass

Anybody have experience with box gardening? Here in the Valley of the Sun the soil isn't worth a shit even if you could get a shovel in the hard-as-rock ground.
I'll have to figure out what will grow in this climate but I would very much like to grow a few fresh veggies to show my kids what a garden is.

i tried a new method last year. just completely tried something to see if it'd work.
i'm a huge tomato guy. went to the local nursery where they sell mushroom compost my the truckload. brought 1 scoop to the garden. i tilled 3 rows in the garden, then shoveled the compost on top in 3 rows, leaving 3 large hills. i had more 'maters than i ever had using cow manure.

i also have to keep in mind that this garden has only been used 2 years prior, and was mostly clay. i'm gonna try the mush comp again, and i'm gonna buy 3 times as much.

i also tried plum roma this past spring. that's what's going in the most (huge salsa guy).

[HemiEd]

Originally Posted by vailpass

Anybody have experience with box gardening? Here in the Valley of the Sun the soil isn't worth a shit even if you could get a shovel in the hard-as-rock ground.
I'll have to figure out what will grow in this climate but I would very much like to grow a few fresh veggies to show my kids what a garden is.

I have a problem as well, so many trees, that I don't have enough consistent sun anywhere in our yard. Front or back.

[vailpass]

Originally Posted by BigOlChiefsfan

Mix 'em. What I do is lay a tarp down, cut open a bale of peat and bust it up on the tarp. Shovel out the grass in the bed and stack it (green side down!) for next years mix, then add some of the soil starting about 3-4 inches down to my peat. Get your kids to help with the next part. Lift one corner of the tarp and walk in towards the center until the dirt/peat start to mix. Lay the tarp down, go to the next corner and repeat. You can also add pearlite (which is basicaly baked mica, it's a very light 'expanded' rock that will not weigh much and will hold water well). It's spendy, but if you're growing in boxes or containers it's a good idea, it solves 2 problems you'll be cranky about otherwise.
I plant a large pot intensively. One tomato, several lettuce plants and several onion sets, and a few radishes. As I pull something out, I plant something else in with. Go hit the library, there's a ton of books on container gardening. When I lived on the plaza, I joined the KCMO community garden, that might be a good idea for you to show you kids as well. I grew tons of veggies in that little garden. Grew a few tomatoes on the balcony, too. Bought a big bag of grow mix, cut 2 X's in the top and poked a small hole in the bottom. Put 2 patio-sized tomatoes in the X's and watered carefully. Worked like a charm.

Great advice, thanks for taking the time. LOL at growing right of out of the grow mix bag.

[vailpass]

Originally Posted by HemiEd

I have a problem as well, so many trees, that I don't have enough consistent sun anywhere in our yard. Front or back.

I'll trade you some sun for some rain.

[vailpass]

Originally Posted by cabletech94

i tried a new method last year. just completely tried something to see if it'd work.
i'm a huge tomato guy. went to the local nursery where they sell mushroom compost my the truckload. brought 1 scoop to the garden. i tilled 3 rows in the garden, then shoveled the compost on top in 3 rows, leaving 3 large hills. i had more 'maters than i ever had using cow manure.

i also have to keep in mind that this garden has only been used 2 years prior, and was mostly clay. i'm gonna try the mush comp again, and i'm gonna buy 3 times as much.

i also tried plum roma this past spring. that's what's going in the most (huge salsa guy).

A salsa garden is one of the things I want to plant. Never heard of mushroom compost. Out here they are pretty garden-challenged since nothing grows unless it has thorns on it but I'll look for it.

[HemiEd]

Originally Posted by vailpass

I'll trade you some sun for some rain.

Deal! We get plenty of rain and you have plenty of sun.


On the apple tree subject, I have two. One old mature tree that was here when we moved in 12 years ago, and one I planted 6 years ago.

This year, both were loaded with blossoms. Then we had a late frost, and zero apples off of the old tree, zip, none.

The young tree had a lot of apples.
These trees are very close to each other, as the limbs can even touch.
I thought it was pretty strange.

[BigOlChiefsfan]

One thing about tomatoes/eggplant/peppers/potatoes. They're all members of the 'nightshade' family, and they leave some 'wilt' disease in the ground where they've grown. Never compost their stems or leaves, and I try really hard to rotate crops out of last years 'nightshade' patch into fresh soil every year. Otherwise after a few really great tomato seasons your plants will start turning brown 'for no reason' and you'll feel like a bad gardener. I try to let some of the garden lay fallow (rest) or I grow peas or beans w/innoculant, they fix nitrogen in the soil - or I grow 'green manure' and rototill it under after it's mostly grown - repeat. I plant tomato/pepper/potato crop in that fresh dirt the following year. OR I rotate nightshades w/corn and add nitrogen (corns a hog). Anyway...mushroom compost is good stuff, I don't see it around here often. Be aware that some types of soil amendments are likely to need nitrogen to break down - sawdust or wood chips for instance - so they might steal enough nitrogen from the garden to slow your plants down. Your manure tea or miracle grow will fix that, for the most part. Or if you have time, mix manure or bloodmeal w/your sawdust and let it break down before tilling it in.

I'm going to quit hogging the discussion. Y'all have fun!

[MOhillbilly]

nightshades are bad news for dogs.


my grandpa would rotate back to the same spot every 3-4 years. like BOCF beans,beans,beans, and compost.

winter rye is a good way to loam your ground and add nitrogen during the winter. its also good to let it go in the spring summer for your fallow plots. Adds cover.
all you have to do is throw it down on tilled soil late fall.

[NewChief]

We're doing some chickens this year. No garden, though. We travel too much during the summer, and it puts too much pressure on us when we're back in town to have to work work work on it.

[KC_Lee]

Originally Posted by BigOlChiefsfan

One thing about tomatoes/eggplant/peppers/potatoes. They're all members of the 'nightshade' family, and they leave some 'wilt' disease in the ground where they've grown. Never compost their stems or leaves, and I try really hard to rotate crops out of last years 'nightshade' patch into fresh soil every year. Otherwise after a few really great tomato seasons your plants will start turning brown 'for no reason' and you'll feel like a bad gardener.

Wow I did not think about that. Thanks for the good advice.

[tmax63]

I built momma a 12x16 greenhouse this fall. Spaded the gravel they call dirt out here and added a full 8' pickup bed of compost and tilled it in. Got a coffee can full of fertilizer from the Coop from bags breaking open so it's probably an interesting mix. Not expecting alot this first year but I plan on doing a soil test at some point next year to see where it stands.