Official 2018 Spectacular Yard and Garden Thread

[Caleb]

As the growing season is underway, what do you have lined up for your garden this year? What's your springtime yard maintenance for this year?

Let's discuss!

 

[Caleb]

For me, I have started some bell peppers, watermelons, garden beans, Rona tomatoes, squash, Thai peppers, jalapenos peppers, and onions... we'll stick some carrots into the ground when it's warmer out...oh and we are trying strawberries this year, so excited.

The wife is really wanting some herbs this year so we got some rosemary, basil, lavender(English), lemon balm, oregano, cilantro, parsley, and thyme.

Should be a great year for a garden!!

Anybody have luck growing black raspberries in a smaller back yard with limited sun? I wanted to get a row of these going if I can get a good yield.

 

[Cozy439]

RE Caleb

Anybody have luck growing black raspberries in a smaller back yard with limited sun? I wanted to get a row of these going if I can get a good yield.

Ditto, same for me. Tried twice - no luck

 

[Leadeye]

Out fertilizing the grapes and fruit trees today.

 

[Mr Evilwrench]

From years of picking black raspberries, they seem to do best at the edge of the woods, so a pretty shaded area. I used to pick a vast amount along an old RR track, and they'd be a thin line along both sides.

If you have bell peppers and hot peppers both, keep them separated. They'll cross pollinate and you'll get hot in your bell peppers.

I'm hoping to be recovered enough (and not surgeried again) that I can build a raised garden this year. I have a patio to lay down and a water feature planned between the deck and the hot tub. One of these days it's going to be a paradise out there.

 

[ChristianPatriot]

Pretty sure I will not be posting any pictures in this thread...

Not hating on you guys. Just jealous.

 

[hoosierdaddy1976]

My dogs have destroyed the yard. The soil is very sandy, and between the running, digging, and dragging **** out after breaking into the shed, we look like a wasteland. Haven’t had time to think of the garden. Will buy some plants to put in after frost, the ag class at the high school sells started vegetable plants cheap.

As to black raspberries, my in laws have them growing behind their house in a tree line. Picked a bunch last year.

 

[BigBoxaJunk]

If you have bell peppers and hot peppers both, keep them separated. They'll cross pollinate and you'll get hot in your bell peppers.

I always plant one of my raised beds full of pepper plants, Bell, Anaheim chili, Poblano, and Jalapeno. I've never had a problem doing that for quite a few years. It's true that peppers can cross-pollinate, but that will only be a problem if you save the seed to plant next year. The actual fruit of the Bell Pepper is produced by the parent plant, and isn't affected by pollination. The seeds that develop from that Bell pepper might produce a plant that has different peppers the next generation, but your Bell pepper plant will only produce Bell peppers.

Although it's not unheard of to get seeds in a packet that aren't what you think. I've also gotten plants from the garden center that turned out to be something different from what I thought they were.

 

[Hoosierkav]

For the past decade +, we've said we are going to have a garden, but never do.

But, this year...

I worked in a garden center when I was young, so I'd love to start everything from seed, but we will end up buying plants (heirlooms, probably). Nothing too crazy, since it has to be maintained, but probably peppers, cucumbers, squash, tomatoes...

 

[gmcttr]

I planted and maintained 12 black raspberry plants for years in an area that got ~6-7 hours of direct sun. They produced fairly well. The birds, deer, squirrels and raccoons enjoyed them. Covering them completely (tight to the ground) with bird netting only had limited success. Same with hazel nuts, blue berries and most anything else I tried to enjoy.

For many years now I have not attempted to feed the deer and other pests with any more than a yard full of weeds, moss and what I think is zoysia grass that is creeping in. The deer don't eat much in my yard unless the oaks produce a good crop of acorns.

Did I mention that I hate deer, squirrels and raccoons. I like birds better now because the hawks eat a few of the squirrels.

My yard maintenance plan is simply and cheap...do nothing but mow and set mole traps. Leaves me with lots of time to go to the range and shoot.

 

[BigBoxaJunk]

The best way to get into gardening is to dive right in and do it. If you need information, you can learn more than you ever want to know by going on line.

I figure that since, for me, gardening is purely for pleasure and stress relief, the only way to do it wrong is to worry about it. Every year I plant a garden, and most years I get lots of vegetables to eat and can. Some years there's too much rain, or too little rain, which I can usually deal with, but if I'm just not feeling it that year, I don't sweat it.

Right now, I've got baby onion plants started from seed, baby spinach seedlings, and romaine lettuce seedlings on my seed-starting rack. The Spinach is from seed that I collected from my plants last year.

 

[Mr Evilwrench]

The pepper thing may be an urban legend; I've heard it told and just did it, never heard of any experience to the contrary. Very lazy of me.

For the moles, there's a bacterial colony you can use to infect your yard. You get modules of powder, put them on a dispenser, and go around the yard bopping the ground with it. It kills the grubworms that the moles like to eat. You'll still get a mole once in a while, but they won't find food and they'll leave. I've actually done this, and it works. I used to get large mushy patches, and I could hardly dig a hole without finding grubworms myself. The bacterium is specific to the grubworms, safe around pets and children. I need to look up what it's called.

I have two feral cats in the garage that take care of the squirrels pretty well. Any they don't get disappear mysteriously. They're big and healthy and completely black; I've provisionally named them Буран and Antlers. I think Буран is the mother and Antlers is a big boy.

 

[SAILORGOLF46]

My wife and I applied 7 yards of mulch this week end, my back is sore. I forgot to plant the garlic last fall so as soon as the ground thawed in February I stuck it in the mud and hope for the best. This is the time of year for the earth to come alive.

 

[eldirector]

My wife advised we are skipping mulch this year. Yay! She spent a little time this last week cleaning up the post-winter mess, and prepping for spring.

The garden seems to have survived the wet weather quite well. The yard is a quagmire, but the garden is only wet. I noticed the onions we left in last year are already up and growing. I probably won't till around them for several more weeks. I don't think we plant until the very end of the month at the earliest.

On the blackberries - my FIL gave us a little sprig a few years ago. it is turning into quite the bush. I've had to trim it back a bit, as it was taking over space reserved for cucumbers. It is in the back corner of the garden, and in shade until late morning. Seems to love it.

The rest of the flower beds look pretty decent. Lots of little green starts poking through the mulch.

Not really garden related, but the next spring project is to pick up 3 more pullets. We've had 2 hens die in the last year or so (they were pretty old birds), so it is time to replace them. That'll take us to 6 in our mini-flock. My daughter wants to try her hand at selling eggs to the neighbors.

 

[CindyE]

I ordered my tomatoes and peppers online a couple of weeks ago. I've slowly been working on getting things cleaned up. There are still lots of leaves and debris in the flower beds, but I will leave most of that until we aren't getting freezing nights. I think i might have some lettuce popping up in my makeshift (redneck) coldframe.

 

[DoggyDaddy]

I've been trying to keep up with the yard cleanup all winter (mostly picking up sticks). Did a lot of cleanup in late fall so not much to do in the spring as far as flower beds go. May need to spread a little mulch. Saturday I got all the ornamental grasses cut down and burned them yesterday (along with a big pile of sticks).

Our garden was sorely neglected last year due to some issues beyond our control. It hadn't done very well the year before either, because I think I acidified the soil too much. Usually we dump our coffee grounds, fruit and veggie peels along with ashes from the fireplace all winter, but the previous two winters were so mild, we didn't have the ashes to spread. This winter I didn't add any coffee grounds or fruit and veggie peels, but we went through about 3 ricks of wood and dumped all the ashes out there. Hopefully it'll be a little more neutral in pH this year and will do better.

 

[BigBoxaJunk]

I had put up a 6-foot cedar privacy fence between us and our closest neighbor quite a few years ago. I had planted gold-flame honeysuckle along the fence, and I spaced vertical wires to give the vines something to climb on. But after years of fighting the weeds, the poison ivy, and the mulberry that keep coming up along the bottom, I'm taking all the vines down this spring to leave the bare fence.

It will be a lot easier to take care of a nice strip of mulch along the bottom of the fence, and the fence will probably last longer without all the greenery.

 

[Hoosierkav]

<SNIP>

For the moles, there's a bacterial colony you can use to infect your yard. You get modules of powder, put them on a dispenser, and go around the yard bopping the ground with it. It kills the grubworms that the moles like to eat. You'll still get a mole once in a while, but they won't find food and they'll leave. I've actually done this, and it works. I used to get large mushy patches, and I could hardly dig a hole without finding grubworms myself. The bacterium is specific to the grubworms, safe around pets and children. I need to look up what it's called.

<SNIP>

It's "bt" or Bacillus thuringiensis.

 

[Mr Evilwrench]

Milky Spore Disease is how it's marketed.

 

[Caleb]

A lot of the seeds that we planted are really starting to take off, especially the green beans and squash. Hopefully the weather will allow me to plant them before long.

Anybody sowing grass seeds? When is the best time to throw some down?