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It's time ~ the garden goes from hobby to necessity

32K views 548 replies 57 participants last post by  peanut 
#1 · (Edited)
Just returned home from my Dollar General coupon day (spend $25 - save $5...do it right, spend exactly $25 & it works out to 20% off everything you buy. That's all those $1 items now costing .80 cents)...My DG lets me do as many 'deals' as I want and I calculate them right to the penny of $25.... $25 worth of goodies for $20!!!

But this story is not about DG - so anyway, as I was driving home I noticed that gas has now gone up to $3.79 gal (that's 10 MORE cents since yesterday)....this is not good folks!

The weather is breaking and I have been staring at my garden plot in the backyard for the past few weeks, saying to the DH that I will once again plant a garden for us (Dh laughs hysterically at this comment every time. Where is the moral support here)...

Every year I plant. Some come up, most don't. The ones that make it above the dirt I somehow kill (by lack of water or weed takeover - I admit it...I kill them).

This year must be different. This year I can no longer call the plot my hobby that I can abandon at will when I grow tired of it. This year a garden is going to become a necessity everyone. Prices are going thru the roof and I see no end in sight.

You may say that not everything has gone up but let me tell you. I work in a grocery store. I watch items come in everyday that are now much larger packaging but have reduced contents inside and the prices are still the same. The manufacturers are playing with us consumers and your prices are very much going up on everything!

We need to do every tiny thing we can to keep as many of our dollars in our pockets as possible. A garden is one of the greatest ideas ever invented. It's very little outlay and a boatload of sweat equity. But the rewards can be stupendous!

I have a girlfriend who has a canner & the knowledge to use it so I made a deal with her the other day that if the garden has a bounty this year she comes with her supplies and shares the knowledge and I will share the bounty and we will can, can, can till we can can no more....
 
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#358 ·
We had a huge problem with rain last spring. It pretty much washed everyone's seeds out. Those that were more motivated replanted. I didn't.

Now this year we are 10" at last count under rainfall so far. I just keep on watering, it's all I can do. Actually I don't mind doing it. I won't like the water bill I am sure, but the process of doing it is relaxing to me.

That's strange about the helicopters drying the fruit. I have never heard of that.... interesting what we come up in times of crises.

I sure hope all the produce prices are down for the summer - time will tell. At least the farmers markets are bursting at the seams (which is great for me coz that brings the people in droves buying all my goodies).....
 
#360 ·
Peanut;
what does sulphur dust solve? Something is eating my bean plants (I think in my case its slugs; Right time will tell; dh put sawdust around plants)
Right by the Burpee seeds they are selling trellis netting for $5 to string across your bamboo stakes in case you are interested.

Pam
 
#361 ·
Thanks Pam. Got the trellises scoped out and situated with twine wrapped around them to support the tomatoes.

Sulphur dust is for anthracnose, a disease that happens on plants that are put out too early in cold wet weather. :sigh: Also, locals here say they add sulphur by the bagful to our soil to help plants grow better. Something to do with our soil.
 
#362 ·
my cucmber plants are about produced out~ i have gotten several hundred from them so i do have some replanted and coming up to replace them. I need to decide if i want to plant a second crop of sqaush. no one except me really enjoys it so i may just be done with that. I could use those spots to plant more green beans. I need to get my Cabbage, broccoli and cauliflower started in the green house, all that stuff needs to go out end of next month for fall harvesting!
 
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#363 ·
Dollar General has their coupon day on Saturday (Spend $25- get $5 off).... so when I spend exactly $25 - it's like getting everything in the store at 20% off.

They have gotten in their canning jars. Quarts are $8.50 doz & pints and 8oz jelly jars are $7.50 dozen. I plan on stocking up come Sat...

Garden is happily growing along out there....
 
#364 ·
Dollar General has their coupon day on Saturday .
DARN!!! We don't have dollar general..........only dollar tree.

I know they are in southern Idaho.........hmmmmmmmm..........wonder if a friend down there would go pick some up for me.........:laugh: Wanted a reason to go see her anyway............. other than TO GET SOME SUN!!
 
#365 ·
We just had a 5 minute rain shower - it was nice while it lasted. Now the sun is out to dry up all the rain before it can sink into the ground.

The garden is growing leaps and bounds. I am staying on top of the watering and keeping the soil turned and weed free.

I planted 30 tomato plants from seedlings in pots into the garden today. I also did some re-arranging of a few plants that are starting to overtake others.

While working I found a baby bird that had fallen from his nest in a tree. I got out the tall ladder and put that little guy right back up there. His mother (a robin of all birds) gave me one heck of a time trying to bite me and knock me off the ladder. I yelled at her to quit being so ungrateful and to get over herself - that I was doing her a favor, and if she didn't back off I was gonna knock her on her @ss! I think I shocked her coz she backed off and sat on a branch looking at me trying to figure out if I was really was quite nuts... yup, I am - lol
 
#366 ·
DH and I were getting a laugh this morning. We made bamboo climbing structures for the larger patio pots by tieing the top of them together with twine. There was a bird trying to grab the end of the twine and take it to his nest. What a hoot! DH was shaking his head saying "I guess it IS the birds and not the squirrels!" I was saying "told you so!" Never trust the birds. They'll try anything once.

My irises have thrips. As soon as it dries up and I can get out there, I'm hitting everything with insecticidal soap. I can't believe all the disease and insects we had already. And things are barely out of the ground! Ah well. This might just be one of those years...
 
#367 ·
So sorry about all the problems with the plants already Peanut. I told Dh this morning that the garden is doing so fabulous - now all we need is for a locust swarm to come and wipe it all out....
 
#369 ·
I understand. I just left part-time job with bad boss who purposefully made employees feel like blubbering idiots just to control all situations. He also didn't pay on time. I have to pinch some pennies until they scream too.

I always enjoyed the garden as a kid. But my family had well water. Water in my suburb is double the city water rate in town. I do keep a small patch of flowers alive, few roses and 2 front yard planters. However, I have thought of turning the flower beds where the perennials haven't done well into herb beds.

I found shopping at Dollar Tree a better deal here. I do use Dollar General sometimes when I am in a mood about Walmart. The local paper is too expensive to even bother purchasing just for the coupons and sometimes are are none in the paper. I just read paper online.
 
#370 ·
The best gardening results I ever got cost me $2 for a bag of manure. I worked it into the dirt as I planted. Everything grew much better. You just have to remember to water.

If you have dogs or cats, dump your vacuum bag or canister onto the garden spreading the hair around. You can also do this with clipping provided by a hair dresser. Rabbits and deer don't like the smell and leave the crops alone.
 
#371 ·
miss_cas;4111532094 If you have dogs or cats said:
You just gave me the BEST idea! We are having a problem this year with mice in our cabin. I hate to kill them (breaks my heart) but they are tearing the place up. Last week they chewed thru the tv cords. They are getting into everything and what they don't shred they poop on. I am sick of cleaning it up over and over.

So, I have 2 cats (with lots of hair in the vacuum) - I am going to take some of it and spread it around the cabin and see what happens. I know that in years that we take the boys with us to the cabin a lot the mice population is down. But the past few years the boys have not wanted to take the car ride to get there, so they hide when we say we are going. They just get left home then... (unless I torment them and track them down and force them to go) - they love it once they are there.... they are just being little brats about it.

I will give this hair thing a go ~ thanks!
 
#372 ·
Right now I have a squirrel giving me heck when I come outside. The tree in front usually has a squirrel nest. Can't see it this year but I figure this is why the squirrel is yelling every time I come outside to check on my herbs and plants. Decided to put the spinach plants out in front. They seem to be doing better but really am not expecting very much since they are still very spindling looking.
 
#373 ·
I'm late to the party. WOWSERS! Planting in Feb! Amazing, I'm quite jealous. Like Peanut I'm in Canada in a wonderful zone of....wait for it......3. I know, anti-climatic. But we start planting generally after Victoria day. BUT, we've had frost since then so I had to wait. I now am starting. I'm not planting anything in a regular bed... the surrounding pines and spruce leach everything. I am planting in containers.


I have 2 hanging strawberry pots that wintered(buried in soil then covered in leaves) 3 hanging tomatoes pots(but I think 6 plants) then I have 8 other tomato plants in pots. 3 are self watering. I have JUST seeded lettuce, peas and turnips. I have to pick up peppers yet, I didn't have room to start anything indoors due to home daycare...no room that would be safe.

I am hoping to pick up an Evan's cherry tree, dh agreed to cut down a spruce for me to plant it. I'm considering a plum (one that is grafted with several varieties) for the front year, and then some kasap(honey berry).

I need to harvest my rhubarb, some of it is as thick as my wrist. It is very happy being neglected.
 
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#374 ·
Picked up 3 tubs full of decomposed rabbit manure today from the animal rescue. I dug pretty deep into the pile to get to the 'good stuff', so right now it is sitting in the tubs on the garden path letting the sun finish drying it all out so I can pulverize it into a powder (instead of giant wet clumps)....

The plants seemed to have gone nuts in the past few days. Things are growing everywhere. I picked my first 3 chili peppers a little bit ago while out watering. I think the combination of horse manure, plant food, peat moss & next rabbit manure are giving the plants just about every nutrient they might want. (I am no chemist to be sure, but based on the sizes of the leaves on the plants- they are like mutants or something).... I must have done something right anyway... Everything is a deep lush green and looking healthy as can be. No more problems with bugs so that's a good thing. And those plants that got the beating are bouncing back nicely.

So next feeding will be the rabbit manure. I will get the soil turned and mix it in. I have been turning the soil about every 3rd day and I think that is helping with the watering too, coz when I water it just immediately sinks right into the ground.

Things are going to have to be staked higher up on the stakes and it's time to start training some of these plants to grow vertically so there is room for everyone in the garden.

The garden overall is wonderful - it's just too bad that I don't know what any of the plants are until they start to produce their veggies.... I have so long ago lost track of what was planted where ~ Next year I think I will write it all down - lol
 
#376 ·
When I first started I actually made a map of the garden. Then I started planting boatloads of planters on the patio and somehow managed to mix them all up (no I didn't mark them either) - I'm a mess, I am the first to admit that. Anyway, I kept transplanting stuff from the pots to the garden, fill the pots back up, transplant them into the garden, and on and on....Everywhere I found a space I crammed a plant into it. Things are just plain crazy out there now... I can identify obvious stuff (like tomato & pepper plants) and plants are starting to get little veggies so I am slowly figuring out. I'm not stressing about it either - when it grows, I will eat it....

Actually it's almost like Christmas out there - I never know what I am gonna get each time I visit ~
 
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#377 ·
My first meal from the garden (actually it came from a pot on the patio)....
Food Plant Leaf vegetable Ingredient Vegetable
 
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#378 ·
It's been raining here and my garden has just shot up! I'm sure five more leaves grew on the spaghetti squash last night. I can see where the birds and squirrels have been, and where we need to replant. Need to thin out some veggies, but not till the rain stops.
 
#379 ·
I live trap the mice and relocate them.

( This was supposed to be a response to Sabrelvssammy's comment about mice in the cabin and it didn't show up where I expected it to and now I don't know how to delete it, hence the reason I don't post very often, tech challenged!)
 
#380 ·
I knew what you meant Tami ~ I wish I could live trap them, but since we are not there but a few times a month they would die slowly and unhappily in the traps. Then I would be really, really sad... Darn little things - I think they are adorable, but they are not good house guests at all...
 
#381 ·
I tilled and put in 2 new beds this morning to house some of my tomato plants.

Then I thought I might count just how many tomato plants I have out there in the garden. Are you ready for this ~ I stopped counting at 80. They range from 2 inches tall to 4 feet tall. So I am hoping that I have tomatoes coming out my ears all summer long. If I get overwhelmed I can always give them to friends & family & sell them at the weekly Farmers Market (after I can & freeze and eat till I can't do it anymore)...

I am really glad that I have all these plants coz the price of tomatoes at the grocery continually keeps going up. Canned tomatoes (generic even) are over .60 a can... and if this drought continues the prices could skyrocket. Not all the farms around here have irrigation systems and they are already feeling the pinch on their crops. What we thought was going to be a great summer of bounty with the early warm weather could turn out to be a detriment when everything dies from lack of moisture.

I have been watering everyday and the plants are starting to show little veggies. I have flowers on my squash plants this morning. My pepper plants are loaded with little peppers (I planted green, red, yellow, hungarian wax, chili, habanaro). The taller tomato plants have tiny tomatoes and load of flowers. My cabbage heads are looking wonderful and are about the size of softballs. My broccoli & cauliflower plants are about 3 feet tall. The snow peas are almost ready for picking.

More and more is happening everyday in the garden ~ woohoo....
 
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#385 ·
Oooh! Picture time! Nice photos SS. Doesn't look like 80 tomato plants there, but with all that interplanting it's hard to tell.

Here are a few of my patio garden:

Plant Flowerpot Houseplant Terrestrial plant Grass
Plant Flowerpot Houseplant Grass Groundcover
Plant Flowerpot Houseplant Grass Shrub
Plant Property Furniture Chair Flowerpot
Plant Flowerpot Houseplant Botany Wood
Flower Plant Flowerpot Houseplant Botany


Today I sprayed insecticidal soap for thrips and some kind of small green caterpillar type bug on my radish. Mega unimpressed! No one is getting my radish this year but me! I want it in my sushi!
 
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