How Does Your Garden Grow?

[KoryMac5]

Originally Posted by gonelong

I hate to be the messenger of bad news ... sweet corn needs to be planted in blocks, not long rows. The corn needs to pollinate (via the breeze) and it's much more likely to happen with 6 rows 1/3 the length than with 2 rows of any length.

IMO you'll be lucky to get anything edible out of either row. Likely, the ears will form, but will not mature.

GL

Thanks for the info. I believe I have enough room left over to expand to be able to get more of a rectangular shape that would be desired for ultimum corn growing. I should be able to get a third row out of my space which I beleive will help with polination I will give it a try and see what happens. Thanks for the catch.

[Will M]

last year my wife planted a couple tomato & pepper plants.

this year i got involved. heh heh heh.
1. i have two areas of squash doing well
2. i made three raised beds. two with watermelon & one with pumpkin
3. my beans are doing well. i made the mistake of buying bush beans not pole beans but at least i don't have to build a trellis
4. we have several tomatoes & pepper plants scattered around
5. i have a few cucumber plants
6. i planted some carrots. too soon to tell
7. the peas i planted in the ground didn't come up but the ones i planted in pots did. i am going to transplant them soon

so far its been fun. mostly i am shocked when the seeds i planted actually grow. in the past i have had a bit of a 'brown thumb'.

for the most part i have gotten things at Walmart & Home Depot. since it started as a fun experiment i thought i'd start cheap & see if the plants actually grew

biggest problem so far is that the cats think my garden is a giant litter box!

[redsmetz]

Originally Posted by Will M

biggest problem so far is that the cats think my garden is a giant litter box!

I'm told if you sprinkle some cayenne pepper around, it should ward the cats off. Maybe someone else has an idea.

[SunDeck]

When we moved in to this house the yard was a total disaster, which is probably why we got it so cheap. Curb appeal makes a big difference.

I removed a nine yard dumpster worth of brush and overgrown weed trees, including a massive hedge that blocked the patio and windows of the first floor. I regraded the yard to move water away from the house and found several tons of field stone that had been used to landscape over the years- they were reused to define beds, paths and to elevate a few beds near the house.

In the front, I re-landscaped the beds near the house, keeping only one plant, a mature holly. In the back yard, added another five yards of soil/compost for my wife's garden and built a new gravel path around the side of the house to that area (about five yards of gravel).

In the back yard I had a drainage problem- water running from my neighbor's yard and my gutters collected right in the middle of mine, then ran under a shed. To correct this, I needed to halt the neighbor's water at the fence and figure out a way to move water that was coming from the gutters over to the fence line and then around the shed. I built a large raised bed at the fence line (nine yards of topsoil), running the length of the fence between our yards. I filled along the fence with stones to control erosion. Then I fashioned a stone lined swale through the bed diagonally that diverted runoff from the gutters over to the fence line. These two runoff streams are normally dry, but when it rains the water rushes right through them, behind my shed and down to the gulley in the woods.
Both beds are now covered with ornamental grasses, viburnum, coreopsis, aster and butterfly bushes.

[Redsfan320]

Originally Posted by SunDeck

When we moved in to this house the yard was a total disaster, which is probably why we got it so cheap. Curb appeal makes a big difference.

I removed a nine yard dumpster worth of brush and overgrown weed trees, including a massive hedge that blocked the patio and windows of the first floor. I regraded the yard to move water away from the house and found several tons of field stone that had been used to landscape over the years- they were reused to define beds, paths and to elevate a few beds near the house.

In the front, I re-landscaped the beds near the house, keeping only one plant, a mature holly. In the back yard, added another five yards of soil/compost for my wife's garden and built a new gravel path around the side of the house to that area (about five yards of gravel).

In the back yard I had a drainage problem- water running from my neighbor's yard and my gutters collected right in the middle of mine, then ran under a shed. To correct this, I needed to halt the neighbor's water at the fence and figure out a way to move water that was coming from the gutters over to the fence line and then around the shed. I built a large raised bed at the fence line (nine yards of topsoil), running the length of the fence between our yards. I filled along the fence with stones to control erosion. Then I fashioned a stone lined swale through the bed diagonally that diverted runoff from the gutters over to the fence line. These two runoff streams are normally dry, but when it rains the water rushes right through them, behind my shed and down to the gulley in the woods.
Both beds are now covered with ornamental grasses, viburnum, coreopsis, aster and butterfly bushes.

Wow. Nice work!

320

[Will M]

Originally Posted by redsmetz

I'm told if you sprinkle some cayenne pepper around, it should ward the cats off. Maybe someone else has an idea.

thanks. i'll look into this.

[LoganBuck]

Your cats, or stray/neighborhood cats?

[Will M]

Originally Posted by LoganBuck

Your cats, or stray/neighborhood cats?

depends on when you ask

all four are adopted strays but have been ours for anywhere from 3 to 15 years.

[RichRed]

Originally Posted by SunDeck

When we moved in to this house the yard was a total disaster, which is probably why we got it so cheap. Curb appeal makes a big difference.

I removed a nine yard dumpster worth of brush and overgrown weed trees, including a massive hedge that blocked the patio and windows of the first floor. I regraded the yard to move water away from the house and found several tons of field stone that had been used to landscape over the years- they were reused to define beds, paths and to elevate a few beds near the house.

In the front, I re-landscaped the beds near the house, keeping only one plant, a mature holly. In the back yard, added another five yards of soil/compost for my wife's garden and built a new gravel path around the side of the house to that area (about five yards of gravel).

In the back yard I had a drainage problem- water running from my neighbor's yard and my gutters collected right in the middle of mine, then ran under a shed. To correct this, I needed to halt the neighbor's water at the fence and figure out a way to move water that was coming from the gutters over to the fence line and then around the shed. I built a large raised bed at the fence line (nine yards of topsoil), running the length of the fence between our yards. I filled along the fence with stones to control erosion. Then I fashioned a stone lined swale through the bed diagonally that diverted runoff from the gutters over to the fence line. These two runoff streams are normally dry, but when it rains the water rushes right through them, behind my shed and down to the gulley in the woods.
Both beds are now covered with ornamental grasses, viburnum, coreopsis, aster and butterfly bushes.

Get this guy his own HGTV show!

[Roy Tucker]

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/20/ga...me&ref=general

[redsmetz]

I thought I'd bump this thread up. Our garden has been coming in very nicely, although my wife has been battling some worms that show up on broccoli plants. Our tomatoes, beans, zucchini and pepper plants are all coming in nicely. The spinach is done and we got enough to use in some salads, quesadillas and stir fry. The basil and cilantro is also starting to look good. Probably about two to three weeks before some of the stuff is big and ripe enough to have some.

[Roy Tucker]

We're about done with spinach, lettuce, and radishes too.

Most everything is doing well. We've had some biblical-proportion rain and hail the last few days which battered some of my tomato and pepper plants but they look OK now. My early girl tomatoes look about ready to produce (planted early).

Lots of rain and lots of humidity and lots of heat == a lot of weeds. They've been poking up through my grass mulch.

My rain gauge measured 5" between Saturday and this AM.

[pedro]

It's 50 degrees here.

The cilantro and parsley love it. As do the slugs.

The basil, not so much.

Tomatoes? See you in August.

[westofyou]

Originally Posted by pedro

It's 50 degrees here.

The cilantro and parsley love it. As do the slugs.

The basil, not so much.

Tomatoes? See you in August.

Coldest June on record and it's not even 2/3rds over

[gonelong]

Originally Posted by KoryMac5

Thanks for the info. I believe I have enough room left over to expand to be able to get more of a rectangular shape that would be desired for ultimum corn growing. I should be able to get a third row out of my space which I beleive will help with polination I will give it a try and see what happens. Thanks for the catch.

Out of the blue the other day, Dad tells me you can shake the tassels of one row and then spread them on the silk of the other and vice versa. He said this would do the trick when mother nature and sparse plantings would not. Do this when the silk first begins to show.

Thanks pop. He lets me fail with sweet corn 3 years running and hands you the answer on a silver platter. *sigh*

GL