2018 garden thread!

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a little off topic, but you do see this everywhere, from a tweet by NECN Meteo Tim Kelly.
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Tim Kelley NBC10 Boston‏Verified account @TimNBCBoston 8m8 minutes ago
Anthropogenic rainbow.
Because we only had an inch and a half of rain yesterday, thought the flowers might need another boost this morning
 
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Dobish said:
Depending on the soil that you have, i have found that adding in a bit of sand can help with carrots and beets.
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My garden is mostly clay. Last year I tilled in some compost and grew a shorter carrot (Danvers) to deal with the soil structure. The ones that weren't too crowded grew well. This year, I tried pelleted seed and planting them with appropriate spacing. Went on vacation for a week and came back to mostly weeds with carrots poking through here and there. Tried to weed it, and ended up pulling most of the carrots.
 
Keep working more compost into the soil. It does great things for clay based soil. If the clay soil is deep, dig out a 1' deep trench placing the soil at the end of the trench. Take a pitchfork and loosen the soil in the trench adding compost to the hole, backfill with a mix of the soil removed from the trench and more compost + some appropriate fertilizer.

I direct sow using a little hand seeder so that I don't spill out too many seeds at once. Start thinning them out when they are a few inches tall and keep on thinning them as they grow up.
 
Almost ready
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New invasive around here showed up this year. Purple stripe at the broadest part of the leaf.484a299e15632b460faefb18c1bb4a15.jpg3e63f0bfe832592a7db1bc1c3689306e.jpg
 
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Corn is over waist high by the 4th of July. Won't be long now.

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While we're looking at weeds I thought this was an interesting thing to see while in a field the other day.
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It's interesting what pops up around the yard. This was growing under a Japanese Andromeda.
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fbelec said:
bg any idea what they are? the plant also?
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They are cinnabar moth caterpillars on tansy. Both are not native to the US. Tansy is toxic to grazing livestock. It has become widespread in parts of the west and is considered an invasive, noxious weed. To help eradicate it cinnabar moths were imported. They love this plant and become toxic which helps protect them as they grow. Interesting to note that the cuckoo seems to have an immunity to the toxin. This is the moth.

Cinnibar-Moth.jpg
 
i have 1 red pepper, one tiny zuchinni, 1 red tomato and 1 bean!
 
Yay, you are starting to get ahead of us. I got the green beans in late but they were doing great until a momma deer and child broke into the upper garden. They did a number on the raspberries and beans. The fence is now mended. Fortunately we have second patches that so far are untouched. We've been getting steady zucchinis and early carrots, but no peppers yet. Some cherry tomatoes have been pickable, but no big ones yet.
 
i'm just happy I was able to yield anything after the hail storm.
 
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fbelec said:
did you lose anything?
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a cucumber, a tomato plant, a bell pepper plant, and all of my lettuces. The only plant that had anything on it besides stalks was the zuchinni.
 
great that you didn't lose the whole thing. i would have figured the zuc would have the biggest hit.
 
This year I lost most of my tiger lilies to a tiny red beetle and the larvae it lays on the leaves. It was a real disappointment, usually I get big flowers.
 
well, i guess my tiny zuchini got a little bigger over the weekend!
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LOL, you don't want to ignore a zucchini plant. We pick ours every morning. Big fellows like that one become bread, muffins, etc. or they might end up in the back of someone's convertible in the grocery store parking lot. ;lol
 
these little buggers are eating my zuchinnis...
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but I have a watermelon!
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What are you guys using for watering your gardens? I have six raised beds all on a timer using soaker hoses cause without them they would be dead as the wife will forget to do it and it’s convenient. But the hoses are springing leaks left and right and being only two years old.

They are just setting on top of the soil so that may have a factor in it but it’s is easy to remove to till and what not when the time comes.


Lopi Rockport
Blaze King Ashford 25
 
When we first move here I tried soaker hoses, a lot of them. They all failed after a season. The worst problem for us was the pores clogged and things were not getting enough water. Now I only use drip irrigation. Before I put in our raised beds I plumbed a zoned water supply to the beds with risers coming up where the future beds would be. Then the trenches were backfilled, area leveled, landscape fabric put down and the raised beds installed. I have a header at the end of each bed which has drip irrigation tubing coming off it it. This is all on a commercial rainbird timer. Works like a charm. I also have drip tape irrigation in our in-ground beds. These systems are on a simple dial mechanical timer. Each system has a filter and a pressure regulator on it. This really helps with longevity and proper flow. Our raised beds have been on this system for 8 yrs. now. In ground beds for 20 yrs, though I just replaced the drip tape last year.

www.dripworks.com
 
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I just rand a water line to our garden area and to connect the shop water for the chickens. Right now it is connected to a hydrant with a 4 zone timer and water lines ran to each bed. So adding a rain bird or similar timer to risers would be doable and more aesthetically pleasing.

Looks like I might be switching it out again. What emitters do you use? Drippers or ones that spray? And how many and how far apart are they?


Lopi Rockport
Blaze King Ashford 25
 
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