Garden Geeks thread

[leswp1]

Re: Garden Geeks thread

Roundup- Nooooooooo!!! Rototiller it deep and then huge layer of leaves and or lots of newspapers, cover all with black landscape fabric. WIll kill things, not nuke the soil and leave chemical residue. Round up may take more than 3 yrs to clear out and all the beneficial organisms, etc will be dead. Organic gardening sites have ways to do this.

Guy down the street surrounds areas he wants to rehab with large logs, Dumps all the leaves into the area and they smother everything underneath them. I wasn't convinced but he has done this to an area of about 50 yds of his side yard with resultant wonderful compost. Leaves are deep enough weeds can't root

[MadTownSioux]

Re: Garden Geeks thread

Roundup- Nooooooooo!!! Rototiller it deep and then huge layer of leaves and or lots of newspapers, cover all with black landscape fabric. WIll kill things, not nuke the soil and leave chemical residue. Round up may take more than 3 yrs to clear out and all the beneficial organisms, etc will be dead. Organic gardening sites have ways to do this.

Guy down the street surrounds areas he wants to rehab with large logs, Dumps all the leaves into the area and they smother everything underneath them. I wasn't convinced but he has done this to an area of about 50 yds of his side yard with resultant wonderful compost. Leaves are deep enough weeds can't root

Good info - thanks. But I do plan to dig down about 1 foot and get rid of the soil, then add new better soil and composted manure.

[leswp1]

Re: Garden Geeks thread

Good info - thanks. But I do plan to dig down about 1 foot and get rid of the soil, then add new better soil and composted manure.

Cheaper to do it the way I said. The guy down the street just smothers things and doesn't even till it. If you use the leaves and pile very high they smother anything under them, bottom layers break down, the worms go crazy Viola! I am never patient enough but if you were planning to have the area fallow for a few yrs this is a cheaper way with much less work and waaaay healthier. It will also probably result in the kind of conditions you need for your asparagus.

You can also 'sterilize the soil' by covering it with plastic somehow- google it- but then the area needs to be conditioned because all the bacteria and nutrients are screwed up. Result would be similar to Round up without the chemical residue

[bostonewe]

Re: Garden Geeks thread

No gardening for me this year. I didn't get my pots done as planned and now we're away a bunch of long weekends coming up.

[leswp1]

Re: Garden Geeks thread

No gardening for me this year. I didn't get my pots done as planned and now we're away a bunch of long weekends coming up.

I still have herbs. Stick em in the ground and away you go. Free. If they die there are always more where they came from!

[FreshFish]

Re: Garden Geeks thread

So far, this year's garden continues to provide a decent yield.

Already harvested a cucumber and about two dozen Sungold tomatoes and several servings of green beans.

[leswp1]

Re: Garden Geeks thread

No harvest of anything yet. Latest ever.

[walrus]

Re: Garden Geeks thread

So far, this year's garden continues to provide a decent yield.

Already harvested a cucumber and about two dozen Sungold tomatoes and several servings of green beans.

Few weeks behind, have green tomatoes, some peppers, cukes are blossoming, zucchini are setting, beans are in full bloom. My tomatoes look like crap this year. Not much growth, I moved them around every year and have them in a corner which doesn't get sun until later in morning. Not sure if thats it or not?

[goldy_331]

Re: Garden Geeks thread

Have had a number of cukes, one zucchini and a few cherry tomatoes (from a plant that was marked as a roma) but the dam squirrels have eaten more cherry tomatoes than we have so far.

[FiveHole12]

Re: Garden Geeks thread

Lots of yellow summer and zucchini squash. Been picking and eating them for 2 weeks now. I should have been a squash farmer for a living. Have always had great success with squash.
Green tomato's on the vine. None ripe yet. Healthiest looking plants I've had in years. Getting adventurous... planted 12 different varieties this year, 2 of each.
3 sections of cukes planted. One section very healthy, the other two sections not as good, but they'll make it. No fruits yet.
Eggplant and herbs all looking healthy.

[CLS]

Re: Garden Geeks thread

With the lack of rainfall, I've had to water a lot more than usual. Just got back from four days away and a tomatillo and potted tomato looked very peaked. Took care of them, but will have to water more thoroughly later.

[MadTownSioux]

Re: Garden Geeks thread

1st jalapeno of the season harvested on Sunday. made a really good omelette.

[leswp1]

Re: Garden Geeks thread

Dry as a bone here. So dry that perennials that are 5+ yrs old are dying off. Never had that happen before. Full court press with the sprinkler.

[jen]

Re: Garden Geeks thread

You know things are bad when the lawn guy leaves you a note with a frowny face on it.

[FreshFish]

Re: Garden Geeks thread

Dry as a bone here. So dry that perennials that are 5+ yrs old are dying off. Never had that happen before. Full court press with the sprinkler.

soaker hoses work much better. you can get an inexpensive kit of soaker hose - regular hose - connectors and set up a custom arrangement.

We put them in when we planted shrubs, very handy. also have them throughout the garden.