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Post by flowerbug on Dec 24, 2019 2:10:53 GMT -5
i'm currently living with Mom and helping her out here. this place was not meant as a winter home and the design was not thought out ahead of time for the gardens or decorations but here i am and here i will be until i'm not sure when. 
within the bounds of me being pretty much a natural techniques gardener and Mom being a lot more raze to death and all weeds must go kind of gardener somehow we find ways to laugh and get along even if i might scream in frustation within my head at times (like when i've had an area set up for soil improvement and kept it going for years and just get ready to use it when it gets sprayed with weed killer)... i'm trying to explain things to Mom but she doesn't always get it...
i do low till gardening as much as i can. i use worms and worm compost and green manure crops as much as possible for fertility. the heavy clay subsoil here is very good at holding nutrients and water. some parts of the lot have had topsoil and sand brought in, but most of the vegetable gardens inside the fence are either somewhat amended subsoil or in a few cases i've brought in topsoil and sand (but i'm renovating a large part of that this year so we'll see how it turns out for next summer's growing season).
once i've amended an area with the worms/worm compost it usually ends up being tomatoes, red peppers or onions grown there, and then i'll rotate a few other crops through if i can work the garden layouts that ways. beans and peas i'll put in where ever i can fit them. the strawberry patch might get some beans planted as a partial shade crop. depending upon how many other things i have going on (lately way too much).
at the end of the season i'll bury garden debris. we don't burn anything any more (we react badly to smoke and i would rather use the organic materials as worm food). this means i only dig up spots here or there to bury things and i leave the rest of the garden alone until i get back around to burying things again in that spot. so a normal garden may only be disturbed down a ways only 5-10% of the garden unless i'm doing some other major renovation... which doesn't happen often.
i've learned to dislike raised beds and smaller gardens. to me they are more work to keep up and i love being able to have more flexibility in how i plant a larger garden. so i'm removing extra pathways (wastes of space and more edges to keep up). if i have to weed something i prefer to have it be productive space. i'm also combining smaller gardens into larger ones as i get the chance to do it.
the space where most of the vegetable gardens are at is also low enough to be at risk of flash flooding. i have put up a berm to try to block the flow and redirect it, but i'm under no illusions that this might always work during extreme events. so far so good.
if they'd have known they were going to be doing so much gardening for sure they should have laid things out differently and brought in more topsoil and fill to get above the flash flood stage. still it is interesting to learn how to work with what is and how to deal with clay. i'm pretty sure i prefer mostly clay to mostly sand if given the choice...
speaking of choice the tools i use the most often are a flat bladed shovel, a stirrup/scuffle hoe, a large wooden handled knife and a ground pillow (when i need to do some fine weeding it can let me sit there on the ground instead of bending over so much). it never hurts to keep some extra buckets around and the hose for times when it gets too dry. we usually get enough rains so that it might not be needed but it does come in handy during planting. |
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Post by flowerbug on Mar 18, 2020 23:52:04 GMT -5
well it has been quite a time lately with all the news and people being, well, people...
i have to go back to the seed swap towards the end of February and say it was a fun time for me but very busy. the door count was said to be about 700 people. i restrained myself on picking up too many new beans, maybe less than a dozen. *whew!*
this is some of the list for what i hope to plant this year not counting our other usual production or my own bean projects and a bunch of peas that Andrew and philagardener sent me. i'm still excited about them too
- Burgess Buttercup Squash
- Baby Blue Hubbard Squash
- Nonna Agne's Blue Bean
- Takara Early Adzuki Bean
- Cha Kura Kake Soy (Edamame) Bean
- True Red Cranberry (Pole) Bean
- Brown Lima Pole Bean
- Montville Bean
- Pisarecka Zlutoluske Bean
- Purple Diamond (Snap) Bean
- Purple Rain (Snap) Bean
- Purple Rose (Snap) Bean
- Venda (Snap) Bean
for all of the purple named beans i am doing a grow out to compare them to each other because i suspect they are really all much the same bean as Purple Dove which i've now grown for two seasons and found this particular bean to be well worth continuing our journey together. i managed to sell/give away/trade all my samples i took with me to the seed swap so that was really great and we are planning on growing plenty more of them this year.
i am also hoping to renew my seed stock for the Top Notch wax beans that i have grown for many years and so far i have found it to be my favorite - i will also be trying out a few other wax beans to see how they grow here. as usual it can be more difficult because of our heavy clay soils in many gardens.
ok, that's this post for the moment, now to a few pictures as i was able to get out the other day and even started working on some gardening tasks.
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Post by flowerbug on Mar 19, 2020 0:12:35 GMT -5
i'm in the middle of renameing and redoing some pages on my website so if the following file names change i hope i can come back and edit this again, but if not i'll have to post an update i guess... my initial version of a program i used to create the file names used a time stamp that was not consistent so i had to revise that but alas i'd already created some names. for the moment i'm leaving both the new name and the old name on the web site so there won't be broken links, but eventually i'll remove the duplicated older name. the issue is that the time stamp may be one or two seconds in either direction. at least i caught it early enough before i'd put up a lot more pictures. *whew!* ok, so on to the list of pics, i'm putting the link to the picture and also to the webpage so there is more detail and context on those pages for many of these: 1) we'll start with the green worm.  www.anthive.com/project/worms/2) irish moss that i though was a weed i wanted to get rid of. i've decided to try it out in a spot where i can keep a closer eye on it. it looks so scraggly because i almost weeded it out entirely before it regrew last fall. so now i'll keep it and see how it does in a different location (a tougher place perhaps too). we'll see...  www.anthive.com/project/mosses-n-others/3) frog and toad sky scraper  4) deer topiary  www.anthive.com/project/decorations/5) earliest flower this season  www.anthive.com/project/mixed-flowers/6) closely followed by the crocuses - deer/rabbits already eating them  www.anthive.com/project/crocuses/7) what i'm starting to work on now  www.anthive.com/project/tasks/8) north garden from the top SW corner showing how the creeping thyme is filling in  9) from the opposite corner showing all the daffodils coming up that i moved last year  www.anthive.com/project/n_garden/ |
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Post by flowerbug on Jun 17, 2020 6:43:12 GMT -5
finally have most of everything planted. strawberries getting harvested. projects moving along. it has been pretty busy, but that is all ok. Strawberries:  BumbleBees:  GardenRedo_1:  GardenRedo_2:  North_Garden:  |
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Post by flowerbug on Jun 17, 2020 10:04:24 GMT -5
2020 list of beans planted:
Anasazi (pole) (SP) (2019)
Appaloosa (pole) (V) (2018)
Brown Lima (pole) (N) ()
Cha Kura Kake Soy (edamame) (Z) ()
Dapple Grey (bush, dry) (N) (2019)
Domino Child South Garden (bush, dry) (P) (2019)
Domino Child Light (#2) () (P) (2019)
Domino Child Dark (#3) () (P) (2019)
Early Warwick (bush, dry) (N) (2019)
Etna (bush, dry) (V) (2018-2019)
Fordhook Lima (bush) (G) (2017-2019)
Fortex (pole) (Z) (2019)
Galopka (bush, wax) (NSW) ()
Hidatsa Shield (semi, dry) (N) (2019)
Hopi Lima (pole) (Z) (2019)
Lemon Slice (semi) (P) (2019)
Monster (bush) (P) (2018)
Monster Child South Garden (bush) (P) (2019)
Monster Child Gray Solid () (P) (2019)
Monster Child Dapple Grey () (P) (2019)
Monster Child Half Olive () (P) (2019)
Monster Child Light Half () (P) (2019)
Montville (bush, dry) (N) ()
Nonna Agnes Blue (pole, snap) (N) ()
Painted Pony (bush, dry) (V) (2017)
Pheasant () (P) (2019)
Pisarecka Zlutoluske (bush, dry) (N) (2016)
Purple Dove (bush, snap, dry) (NP) (2019 Early selection)
comparison planting:
Purple Diamond (bush) (N) (2019)
Purple Dove (bush) (N)
Purple Rain (bush) (N) (2016)
Purple Rose (bush) (N) (2016)
Red Ryder (bush, dry) (V) (2019)
Reddish Pere (bush, dry) (P) (2019)
Sacre Bleu (pole) (SS) (2019)
Sieva Lima (pole) (Z) (2017)
Takara Early Adzuki (bush) (GLSS) ()
Tan Goats Eye (bush) (V) (2016)
Top Notch (bush, wax) (N) (2014)
True Red Cranberry (pole) (Z) (2014)
Venda (bush, snap) (N) (2014)
Yellow Eye (semi,dry) (P) (2019)
Yellow Soldier () (P) (2018)
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Post by xdrix on Jun 18, 2020 5:52:27 GMT -5
I have a failed with my lima beans.
The seeds has be attacked by the slug for the first seedlind and the fly of the seedlind for the second seedling.
Fortunately i have found 2 seeds, the last seeds. I witt try to sow this seed in a,planter protected.
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Post by flowerbug on Jun 20, 2020 13:59:37 GMT -5
what variety of lima bean are you trying to grow? for here that would be too late now to plant as it will get frosty cold.
picked four more boxes of strawberries this morning, so those will be turned into strawberry freezer jam today and we'll eat what is left over. there will still be more to pick,but not such big amounts. a good thing as it was tough to do this morning with high heat/humidity and not much of a breeze, but i got it done... hiding inside the rest of the day and will get going on cleaning those up and making jam in a few minutes. otherwise it will be a long evening...
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Post by xdrix on Jun 20, 2020 16:16:52 GMT -5
Its a white lima bean.If theirent very late i can finish their grow in greenhouse.I have sow my seed of lima beans with my seed of cowpeas.I have fertilized with a big quantity of ash for have a big quantity of P and K but a little quantity in N
Our first freez in a normal year is in november the date could variate if the weather is perturbate or anticyclonic.
December is often a month perturbate.
We could have up to 15°C 59°F the chrismas day or a freez.
We have the influence of the atlantic ocean and the russian anticyclon.
The month with a real risq of freez (-10°C 14°F) are january, february and march.
But this winter was been very sweet the most cold freez was been -5°C 23°F. I have wintering a peppers sow in last august in my greenhouse he is always alive.
The risq is to put a seedling during a period perturbate and sweet and have a freez later
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Post by xdrix on Jun 23, 2020 11:53:57 GMT -5
What quantity of water demanding the lima beans?
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Post by flowerbug on Jun 29, 2020 19:51:54 GMT -5
What quantity of water demanding the lima beans?
depends upon how hot and windy it gets, but a few (2-4) cm a week is the minimum when it starts getting this hot out. i try to water a plant several times over a session instead of all at once because of the clay, it gives the water some time to soak in instead of running off. the problem is that it does take some time to water everything. i can't get all the gardens done in one morning. i have to do more tomorrow. a rain every three days to a week would be nice. last year it was the opposite. a lot of rain. this year, getting pretty dry.
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Post by flowerbug on Jul 2, 2020 10:12:17 GMT -5
i saw a news item yesterday stating that this past June was the 2nd sunniest on record for this area for as long as they've been keeping records (about 100yrs). someplace in Grand Rapids MI they have an instrument which records sunshine amount. i can believe it. July is so far shaping up to be the same. very dry, very sunny and getting hotter. no rain in the forecast at all and will be up into the low 90s.
since i cannot do much work outside when it gets too hot i go out in the morning and evening and do what i can.
yesterday and today i started getting some poles and string put up so the climbing beans can find their way over towards the fence. last year i used some sticks leaning against the fence and tied them with string but while it worked it didn't work that well (the beans kept getting blown off and the sticks kept falling over). this year i pounded in some much sturdier steel poles (t-bars) and then ran string between them about every foot. so we'll see if this does better. i had to get it out there because the beans are now getting high enough to start reaching for things.
groundhog has been eating some of the plants inside the fence including my edamame soybeans, adzuki beans and some of the peas/pods.
strawberries done for the season.
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Post by xdrix on Jul 2, 2020 16:15:04 GMT -5
We don't have the 90°F the day however a lot of night are above 60°F up to 64,2°F.
I will post a few photo of my beans!
I have put a seedling of peas and lentil at shadow
and a seedling of cowpeas variety dall'occhio at sunshine they like the drought. My error was been to sow my cowpeas in a ground humid and they are make only leaf.
I have sow phasolus vulgaris at 1/2 sunshine.
have try a seedling of radish at shadow.The radish look like easy however he required a lot of water in a court time. I sow them around my sqhash square.
The squash is at the middle.
We grow the strawberry of 4 season they give a little fruit during all the period without freez.
i search a plant of white strawberry.
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Post by flowerbug on Jul 8, 2020 17:48:15 GMT -5
big pod peas.  the north garden beans.  small bean garden, including comparison of four Purple bean varieties planted side by side (first four rows from left to right, the front half of the row). From left to right: Purple Diamond, Purple Dove, Purple Rain and Purple Rose.  link to full sized image. www.anthive.com/img/beans/DSC_20200708_164835-0400_528_Some_Beans.jpgcombined garden beans.  south fence beans.  |
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Post by xdrix on Jul 14, 2020 10:13:41 GMT -5
 Planter with a few seeds of each in my collection of beans. Cow peas, lima beans and beans. One peas germinate. |
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Post by xdrix on Jul 21, 2020 4:55:35 GMT -5
My last,lima bean in the planter was eaten by a slug and i have no more seeds.
I have a curse with the lima beans!
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