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Post by kazedwards on Jun 12, 2014 0:30:19 GMT -5
Hi everyone. I am starting this thread to have a place for my thoughts, pictures, and doings in the garden. I have been on this forum for a few months now and have learned a lot and feel like I am starting to know a lot of you. I guess this is my way of showing you all who I am.
This is my second year of gardening and it is going well. I just got back from being out of town for 10 days and most everything is still alive so guess I'm doing ok. We got several inches of rain when I was gone and everything has loved it, including the weeds. Hopefully it will dry out enough for me to get out there in a day or two.
I do need to sow a few cucumbers soon bc I only had 1 make it through my trip. They were seedling so I am not in a panic. I need to get a second set of beans in and I might try another set of radishes and lettuce too. I just potted an orange tree that I got on my trip. It will stay indoors during the winter and summers outside. I have a Myers lemon tree indoors that will be moved out soon as well.
I have a few radishes going to seed now and I'm going to try to save some seed. This is my first year of hopefully saving my own seed as well. The only seed before now that I have saved are a few pineapple seeds from a store bought pineapple and some wisteria seeds from my sisters house. I hope to plant some of those soon. The pineapple will be in a pot full time though. I hope that I can eventually be able to grow my own varieties and landraces, but I think that is aways down the road. I hope to post some pics in a day or two so until then I guess.
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Post by philagardener on Jun 12, 2014 5:49:31 GMT -5
Looking forward to seeing your progress!
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Post by kazedwards on Jun 12, 2014 12:36:21 GMT -5
Here are a few pics of last years garden. That was also my first garden as well. This is right after I tilled. I did not kill the grass before hand and just tilled it in. The OM from the grass helped but I was pulling grass out all year. http://instagram.com/p/pJt0tkCp47 This is when I was setting up the raised rows I used last year. They would have worked better if I had mulched better. I also had some lettuce and onions to the right. Also cauliflower and broccoli in the second row. http://instagram.com/p/pJuqOKip6X Here is another pic from about a month later. The rows are lettuce/onions in the first. Cauliflower/broccoli/beets in the second. Third row has kohlrabi and broccoli. The forth had carrots/radishes/beans( I know a bad mix). There was another row behind that which was empty and then hills for cukes/cantaloupe/watermelon. Then the short cages for tomatoes and the towers for more beans. http://instagram.com/p/pJuDI8ip5a The next pic is from my deck mid summer. http://instagram.com/p/pJuIQDCp5f |
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Post by richardw on Jun 12, 2014 14:37:32 GMT -5
Looking good Zach,the last photo shows youve got a wild area nearby,that should help achieving a good insect balance within the garden
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Post by kazedwards on Jun 13, 2014 0:12:06 GMT -5
Yes there is a farmers field to the east and an open field to the northeast that a creek runs down the middle.
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Post by kazedwards on Jun 13, 2014 1:01:03 GMT -5
Here are a few more pics of the garden from May 20 of this year. I had just finshed setting up the rows. http://instagram.com/p/oPVP__Cp7J http://instagram.com/p/oPVI2YCp69 Here is also a pic of the Fleener's Topset walking onions that I am growing. http://instagram.com/p/ojeJtpCp34 I am hoping to get another bed set up for them so that I can let them do there own thing. I would also like to get a few more varieties of walking onions in the future. Funny thing is I don't really like onions on most things. Just in stir fry or fajitas. Although we do use a lot of green onions. The peas are going crazy right now and the kohlrabi is growing great. I am shocked at how big the tomatoes and peppers have grow. The onions I have are doing ok I think. Although I'm having a hard time finding them with the weeds that have popped up/thrived with the rain and lack of weeding when I was gone. I also had a lot bunching onions/Ailsa Craig onions germ too. I sawed them as a last minute fluke to see what happens. The other Ailsa Craig onions that I started in February haven't really done much. The garlic did throw out scrapes and I'm hoping to get bulbis. |
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Post by kazedwards on Jun 13, 2014 11:29:26 GMT -5
Sowed a few more cukes this morning but it is still to wet where the beans are going. I haven't even started weeding. That will start this weekend. Hopefully it will be dry enough by then for me to work the clay soil that is my garden. The compost is looking like it is breaking down good. It is several inches lower than it was when I left. I will be adding plenty to this weekend with weeding and mowing the yard. Hopefully I will be able to get garden amended well this fall with it. My soil is better than last year but it still clumps easily and drys to a rock if I'm not careful.
Happy gardening to all
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Post by bunkie on Jun 14, 2014 11:03:18 GMT -5
Here are a few more pics of the garden from May 20 of this year. I had just finshed setting up the rows. http://instagram.com/p/oPVP__Cp7J http://instagram.com/p/oPVI2YCp69 Here is also a pic of the Fleener's Topset walking onions that I am growing. http://instagram.com/p/ojeJtpCp34 I am hoping to get another bed set up for them so that I can let them do there own thing. I would also like to get a few more varieties of walking onions in the future. Funny thing is I don't really like onions on most things. Just in stir fry or fajitas. Although we do use a lot of green onions. The peas are going crazy right now and the kohlrabi is growing great. I am shocked at how big the tomatoes and peppers have grow. The onions I have are doing ok I think. Although I'm having a hard time finding them with the weeds that have popped up/thrived with the rain and lack of weeding when I was gone. I also had a lot bunching onions/Ailsa Craig onions germ too. I sawed them as a last minute fluke to see what happens. The other Ailsa Craig onions that I started in February haven't really done much. The garlic did throw out scrapes and I'm hoping to get bulbis. Nice design Zach! Looking good! |
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Post by kazedwards on Jun 17, 2014 1:55:01 GMT -5
Well I weeded some of the onions patch today and realized just how over grown the area was. Also pulled most of the radishes and only left the ones currently flowering to go to seed. Picked what seems to be the last if the tender peas. I will have lots seeds for them soon and I am growing a hybred so I hope I will get some interesting types next year. I do have a few questions for you all.
When do you collect radish seeds? Is it once the plant drys?
How do you dry bulbis from walking onions for storage and can you do it with bulbis that has started growing already?
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Post by Joseph Lofthouse on Jun 17, 2014 10:28:33 GMT -5
I cut off radish plants just above ground level about the time the plant is mostly dry, then further dry the entire plant on a tarp. Then crush and winnow. The varieties of radish that I have grown require vigorous beating or stomping. The first time I grew radish seed I pulled the plants. That left lots of dirt in with the radish seed which was hard to separate.
I pull Egyptian onion top-sets from the plant and toss them in a shallow tray for storage. If it's been raining and the bulbils are damp I'll turn them a couple of times before final storage which can be in something like a cardboard box. If a bulbil has already sent out leaves that's too bad. It can either croak, or survive until planting, or abandon the greens in favor of survival.
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Post by kazedwards on Jun 17, 2014 12:24:42 GMT -5
Thank you. I'm hoping to move them to a permanent bed later this year. I will transplant the ones that have sent out green leaves. Thanks again for the help!
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Post by Joseph Lofthouse on Jun 17, 2014 12:42:54 GMT -5
I keep a patch of Egyptian onions in a permanent bed. These generate the bulbils that I grow as an annual crop.
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Post by richardw on Jun 17, 2014 14:15:37 GMT -5
Do you think that Egyptian onions produce flowers/bulbils better when in a permanent bed compared to annual plantings.
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Post by Joseph Lofthouse on Jun 17, 2014 14:48:36 GMT -5
Do you think that Egyptian onions produce flowers/bulbils better when in a permanent bed compared to annual plantings. I typically harvest the annual plantings of Egyptian Onions as scallions before they go to seed. Occasionally I miss some. They tend to send up scapes as smaller plants, so there are fewer and smaller bulbils. I haven's noticed differences in the flower/bulbil ratio between the different plantings. This year in my garden there are many more flowers on the plants. Last year the perennial patch produced mostly bulbils. This year there are lots and lots of flowers and fewer bulbils. One of the annual plants that I missed the harvest window on has only flowers and zero bulbils. The annual plants have flower clusters at knee height. Some of the perennial plants have flowers up to chest height and average taller than waist height.   |
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Post by kazedwards on Jun 17, 2014 15:22:56 GMT -5
This is the first year of growing them. I recived them as plants this spring through a SSE member. They only grew to maybe 10" and started forming a scape shortly after they recovered. I am very curious to see them with a full season
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