What's growing? The garden thread.
- Thread starter nocsious3
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Since my garden has been in the same place for upwards of thirty years, and I am pretty meticulous about keeping it weed free, I generally have very low weed pressure. Several gardeners I know abandon their gardens after harvest and let it go with the thought that they will just rototill at the end of the season which in effect assures them of reseeding the weeds for the following year making it a never ending battle. The one weed that I constantly battle though is Purslane. Much to my dismay, I just read an article lauding the benefits of growing purslane as a highly nutritious vegetable crop (completely edible and being the highest source of plant based Omega 3 fatty acids). Screw that! After battling it forever with everything from chemical warfare, flame throwers, .precision bombing, and sniper fire, I'll die unhealthy before I'll let it thrive in my garden let alone plant it! 
Purslane is from the devil. Preen seems to be effective but it really dings my peppers. You have to pull it by the roots and dispose of it or it will regrow. Hoe it and each piece will become a new plant. What's that monster from mythology that does that?Since my garden has been in the same place for upwards of thirty years, and I am pretty meticulous about keeping it weed free, I generally have very low weed pressure. Several gardeners I know abandon their gardens after harvest and let it go with the thought that they will just rototill at the end of the season which in effect assures them of reseeding the weeds for the following year making it a never ending battle. The one weed that I constantly battle though is Purslane. Much to my dismay, I just read an article lauding the benefits of growing purslane as a highly nutritious vegetable crop (completely edible and being the highest source of plant based Omega 3 fatty acids). Screw that! After battling it forever with everything from chemical warfare, flame throwers, .precision bombing, and sniper fire, I'll die unhealthy before I'll let it thrive in my garden let alone plant it!
Another update; The spinach finally succumbed to the heat so I rescued what was edible and pulled the plants. To this point I've been able to keep up to the harvest eating salads on an almost daily basis. This final harvest was however too large so it was cooked down and frozen. The bride has an excellent (but simple) recipe for "spinach balls" made with seasoned stuffing and frozen spinach that she flattens down before baking so they are more like warm cookies. Several friends that aren't particularly fans of spinach find themselves going back for seconds. The few beets that emerged from the first planting are now harvestable, but does anybody have a recipe to eat them? Other than pickled beets I don't know that I've eaten them any other way since I was a kid some 60 years ago. I like them pickled but can't make a meal of them. We tried them by halving/quartering them, tossing them in olive oil, and baking them and they were good. We left the caramelized skins on and it seemed like it added a twist to the taste. What's your method? I have a friend that enjoys the beet tops wilted in bacon grease (with onion?) but why wouldn't you? Since my heart attack my wife frowns on me eating anything that tastes good 
) so i don't know if that is in the cards. Haven't tried robbing new potatoes yet but i know they are there for the taking. The tomatoes are setting fruit and the plants look healthy, probably aided by an application of fungicide so i must be fending off the blight even with all the rain and foggy mornings we have been experiencing lately.
How does your garden grow?
) so i don't know if that is in the cards. Haven't tried robbing new potatoes yet but i know they are there for the taking. The tomatoes are setting fruit and the plants look healthy, probably aided by an application of fungicide so i must be fending off the blight even with all the rain and foggy mornings we have been experiencing lately.How does your garden grow?
I've been eating radish seed pods for several weeks now. They are quite spicy.
Anyone ever heard of this? Over the weekend I got rid of a bunch of weeds and vines that were growing around some bushes. To dispose of them I just decided to mow over them. Fast forward I couple of days I notice that the lawn has dead grass where I did this, so there was clearly something about these weeds that caused the grass to die. Anyone ever hear of something like this? Will the lawn repair itself?
Some weeds shade the ground and hold moisture; when cut down, the soil dries without their presence lessening grass growth. Maybe I misremembered which, but some weeds produce chemicals to hinder the growth of other plants. I think Quack (Couch Grass), Coreopsis, and others do this. This effect is quite evident with Black Walnuts as they produce the toxin juglone. Residuals of such in the ground "might" be doing so in your situation.
I only plant one variety of tomatoes (Amish Paste) and my plants look as good as they could given the rain events they suffered through along with the fact that I continually battle blight. Part of that is that I am limited on my ability to rotate planting location between tomatoes/potatoes and the rest of my garden crops. My issue is that the plants have set very little fruit to this point and my guess is the heat has taken it's toll on pollination. The Amish Paste are a later maturing and indeterminant variety so they have until the first killing frost to redeem themselves. The store bought hydroponic tomatoes add color to the meals but not much for flavor so I am anxiously waiting
Thanks. Definitely never considered weeds having chemicals that may kill grass. Will the lawn repair itself or will I need to fix the dead spot?
My motto is “grass always recovers.” If it is a really large area and doesn’t, overseed it in the fall. It is hard to start grass in July and August.
Me too! First year trying these. Had to hand polinate from straight eight. The package I bought was all female. Other than raw how do you like to eat these? The same as regular?
Who needs a garden when you have neighbors and family. Everyone around here plants way more than they can use.
Two different neighbors handed us these last night. Also a jar of pickles that lasted about 5 minutes.
FIL dropped off these this morning. The salsa was full but gave some to the neighbors and ate the rest.
We’ve already been through a couple gallon bags of green beans. Getting some potatoes and onions later today.
Two different neighbors handed us these last night. Also a jar of pickles that lasted about 5 minutes.
FIL dropped off these this morning. The salsa was full but gave some to the neighbors and ate the rest.
We’ve already been through a couple gallon bags of green beans. Getting some potatoes and onions later today.
Who needs a garden when you have neighbors and family. Everyone around here plants way more than they can use.
My good friend down the road from me and I have adopted many of the same gardening philosophies: We both tend to overplant to ensure our own needs in case of a less than ideal harvest but also when we are preserving it for future use we would rather do it once or twice during the season rather than several times as we accumulate excess. We both feel that to a degree a garden is planted with the intent to share. The first recipients of our surplus are the elderly who no longer have the ability to garden and probably second is those that are struggling financially or are burdened by work and raising a family and just don't have the time. But if you don't garden simply because you think you will rely on me gifting my excess to you, you may starve before that happens. I have a SIL who requested green beans after eating them at a family meal and I invited her back to pick all she wanted. She sent my niece. The following year she requested them again and I offered again. This time her daughter was off to college so unavailable so my SIL passed stating she'll try to find some at a farmers market. Last time I offered.
My good friend down the road from me and I have adopted many of the same gardening philosophies: We both tend to overplant to ensure our own needs in case of a less than ideal harvest but also when we are preserving it for future use we would rather do it once or twice during the season rather than several times as we accumulate excess. We both feel that to a degree a garden is planted with the intent to share. The first recipients of our surplus are the elderly who no longer have the ability to garden and probably second is those that are struggling financially or are burdened by work and raising a family and just don't have the time. But if you don't garden simply because you think you will rely on me gifting my excess to you, you may starve before that happens. I have a SIL who requested green beans after eating them at a family meal and I invited her back to pick all she wanted. She sent my niece. The following year she requested them again and I offered again. This time her daughter was off to college so unavailable so my SIL passed stating she'll try to find some at a farmers market. Last time I offered.
Fridge drawer full every couple days. Put four plants on a trellis this year. Kids better keep eating pickles.
