2018 - How Does Your Garden Grow?

[Watchman]

Seed catalogs are beginning to show up. Its time to plan 2018's garden.

[Toepopper]

While the eastern states are currently suffering through a deep freeze it was 55 degrees here yesterday and more of the same is coming today. This warm weather gives me the opportunity to work in the garden cleaning up and removing all of last years plants. This year I am going to rotate crops so I need to take down wire fence supports for snow peas and pole beans and move them to the opposite ends of the garden. I have been raking up maple leaves and wheeling them up to the garden and depositing them in the raised beds to add humus to the soil. Also decided to widen the walk areas between garden beds to accommodate a lawnmower for easier weed control. The weeds almost killed me last year from all the rain we had so this year they will get cut down rather than pulled out. My goose berry plants all died, possibly from excessive heat as they prefer cooler temperatures during the summer season. This year will see the goose berry bed used for some other crop. Hope to get a jump on the garden season to lessen the work load for spring.

[sidejob]

For the first time in a long time I am eagerly awaiting the tiny little sprouts to show up in my seed starter trays. I have not been able to put a garden in over the past 6-7 years, but this year I WILL get it in the ground! I had a misc. seed pack put up for storage and have started two 72 pod trays with tomatoes and peppers from 2012. This will be an interesting mini-experiment for me to see how the germination rate is on 6 year old seed.

[Watchman]

Sidejob, that is interesting! I have a large box also of seeds from 2012 that a store gave me. They were going to throw them out. Last year we planted a pack of cucumbers and they grew - but I didn't keep track of the percentage.

[sidejob]

For the first time in a long time I am eagerly awaiting the tiny little sprouts to show up in my seed starter trays. I have not been able to put a garden in over the past 6-7 years, but this year I WILL get it in the ground! I had a misc. seed pack put up for storage and have started two 72 pod trays with tomatoes and peppers from 2012. This will be an interesting mini-experiment for me to see how the germination rate is on 6 year old seed.

I was hoping to see a couple signs of life by now, but so far nothing... The waiting gets me.

[Watchman]

We're enhancing our small property by the addition of 3 more grow beds and extending one plot by about 4 feet. We're turning this piece of ground into a little farm in the city.

[Watchman]

The last of our snow is gone and we are beginning the de-weeding process. We're going to cut down on the number of different vegetables we are planting.

[Toepopper]

Last year I planted 6 Tayberry plants and they are now covered with berries. These are low maintenance bush plants which can tolerate winter temperatures of minus 30 degrees. Its been raining for the last week so I haven't planted anything else yet except for snow peas which are doing good. Apricot trees are loaded with fruit and it will be a branch breaking year for them.

[Watchman]

Never heard of tayberry. How do they tolerate drought conditions? Second, my apricot tree has a few blossoms on it and that's it.

[Toepopper]

I would imagine they will withstand drought conditions because Siberia is a fairly dry region. I watered them twice a week during the summer months last year to establish the roots but will cut down to a once per week soaking this year. The plants have doubled in size since I stuck them in the ground one year ago. Its nice to have plants that don't need much maintenance or need to start from seed every year, lightens the workload.

[Watchman]

Nice! How big (wide and tall) do they get?

20165_9717_large.jpg

[Toepopper]

That's a nice picture but those are not the tayberries I have planted. These come from Scotland and mine come from Siberia. They grow a long fruit that is blue berry blue in color, about an inch long by a half inch wide and taste similar to regular blue berries. I have seen them advertised in seed catalog's but bought my plants in a local nursery.

[Watchman]

How's this one? These are bare-root plants sold in UK.

tayberry.jpg

[Watchman]

Or this one?

1434354801_Brzezina_2.jpg

[Toepopper]

Those look good but the tayberry's I have are smooth skinned. Maybe these are a local test program to monitor how they do in southern Oregon. This area is berry heaven because the plants do so well here, perfect climate and lots of acidic well drained soil. I have searched the net and can't find a picture of the tayberry species I have.

[Watchman]

Now you've got me curious. Every single picture I have brought up of "tayberries" looks like an elongated raspberry. I looked up the definition of tayberry on Wiki and it says it was developed in Scotland. Here's the link - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tayberry

I've seen some pictures of elongated berries (smooth-skinned) that look like blueberries but they are called honeyberries.

Heck, I don't know.

[Watchman]

We've been trying to get the garden de-weeded (pulling them by hand) to prepare for tilling a couple of days before Memorial Day's planting but it has been raining like never before and last night was a deluge. Some weeds are waits-high. Strange weather because we are in what is called northern plains desert.

[Toepopper]

The weeds are killing me. Its a never ending battle that's wearing me down. Waist high wild grasses and a jungle of dandelines. I finally took a shovel and turned them into the ground rather than try to pull them out by the roots. Have planted everything but beans which must have warm night time temperatures to germinate.

[Watchman]

This hurts like pulling teeth without pain-killer but we had to forego planting a garden this year because of a physical injury. Next year though.

[Toepopper]

This years garden is a big disappointment with golf ball sized tomato's and undersized cucumbers. Green bean plants look nice with lots of flowers but the flowers aren't turning into beans. This seems to be a nation wide experience in back yard gardens this year. I think the seed companies produced some bad seed either by mistake or by design. Fruit trees did well with lots of fruit. I was afraid all the smoke from the wild fires would diminish the fruit count but that didn't happen.

[Watchman]

The "conspiracy" side of me wants to agree with the thought that maybe seed companies are beginning to make their move to control the world's food supply ------ and I think I will stay WITH that theory. It goes in line with what is happening in other areas besides growing. The "illumined ones" are desperate.

[Watchman]

I don't know if this is the proper order to do things but yesterday treated my garden with cow and chicken manure (separate areas) and dolomite lime. Frozen ground is coming quickly to Free Wyoming but I'm tempted to let the supplements soak into the ground naturally instead of tilling and till in the Spring when the ground warms up. I believe that will thin out the supplements to a safelevel for emerging growth in the Spring. Can anyone tell me if this is logical?

[Toepopper]

Yup, makes sense to me. I know that large orchard operators add nitrogen to the base of their fruit trees in the fall after all the fruit has been harvested. I am adding rotted maple leaves and seedless grass stems (straw) to my raised beds so it decomposes over the winter months . Also dumped sawdust on my raspberry plants.
Leaves are turning color and dropping but I still have pears, plums and apples to pick. Beans and tomato's are still producing.