It's snowing outside. . . brilliant . It's not snowing very heavily (just spitting), and I know that it's not going to stick, but it's definitely going to keep things from growing.

Bought some lettuces yesterday! They should go in the ground this weekend (when it will be in the 70's. Yay fluctuation )

Yesterday my sister and I trekked out to the farm to do some gardening. I can't remember if I've mentioned this before on here or not, but I've been wanting to do a Three Sisters garden and she's really curious about it too.

The Three Sisters are squash, corn, and pole beans and planted together they assist each other in growing. You can read more about it here.

There are 100 little mounds of planted seeds there.

I don't know that this experiment is going to be terribly successful however. When we did this, we did it from memory of what I read before we left, and we squeezed too many mounds into a square (it's supposed to be 15, not 25). And then Ara read on a different site that you're supposed to plant the corn first, let it come up 4-5" and then plant the beans. Well, I'm sure we'll get SOME produce out of all of this, at least I certainly hope so, but if I try this again next year, I'll be sure to read up on it more before I put in 5 hours of work. *plans to add a fair bit of fertilizer to compensate for planting everything too close together.*

On a different note, I'm wondering if I got the wrong potting soil this year. My tomatoes especially have been far more yellow this year than in past years so I'm assuming they're lacking in nitrogen. This should hopefully take care of itself when they're planted in the ground, but just in case I may sprinkle a little blood meal on everything today which should also help. I think the majority of the plants will go to their new homes tomorrow. I'm meeting my husband at work to distribute them out accordingly.

Monday night is supposed to be pretty cold again, 39F I guess, so I'm still holding off putting seeds/plants in the ground. But what I have is looking REALLY good. My peas and onions are growing and I hoed the entire garden two days ago so I could take pictures. Still need to get fencing up for the second row of peas.

Hey DiGs, does your book have any good advice on how to deal with cutworms?

Hey DiGs, does your book have any good advice on how to deal with cutworms?

Sure does.

Here's what it says:

Cutworms are stumped when they run into plastic. Clean and disinfect one and five gallon nursery pots and cut out the bottoms. Sink the pots into the ground leaving 2-3 inches above the soil line, and plant inside of them.

To deter cutworms and stop tomato blight, wrap tomato stems in a sleeve of aluminum foil (buried at least one inch into the soil). Use the same techniques with squash and cucumber vines to halt borers in their tracks

Firefly larvae (the luminous glowworms found in gardens) are voracious eaters with an appetite for larvae, mites, slugs, snails and cutworms.

One of the best strategies for fighting the invaders is to water deeply and only as needed (in contrast to daily shallow sprinkling). Other remedies include using a dehatching rake to remove the thick covering, and dancing across the lawn in aerator sandals.

If you go dancing across your garden with aerating sandals. . . be sure to take a video

I picked the first things out my garden today - about a dozen green onions. Took me a while to clean them, but they should be tasty

Other remedies include using a dehatching rake to remove the thick covering, and dancing across the lawn in aerator sandals.

If you go dancing across your garden with aerating sandals. . . be sure to take a video

Yeah, I'll get right on that.

Cutworms are stumped when they run into plastic.
...To deter cutworms ... wrap ... stems in a sleeve of aluminum foil (buried at least one inch into the soil).

This is the most consistent and best answer I've gotten over and over and over.
My husband had a suggestion from a coworker for stuff that's already planted to take either nails or matches or something a worm can't eat through, and poke it into the ground right next to the plant around the outside. They can still munch small portions of it, but they can't go to town.
We had a grape get munched which is why I was asking. Looking into solutions to prevent more from dying.

I finally got the fencing put up for the peas in the backyard so they should be happier now.
I also sprinkled all of the tomatoes with blood meal yesterday and watered it in so hopefully they'll green up.
Next on the list is plant all of the root vegetables out at the farm (carrots, parsnips, radishes, beets, turnips) and then replant the leafy greens which are already going to seed.

I've started building a rustic garden fence around my garden (not an easy task considering that I need enough fencing to cover about a 250 foot perimeter ). We've got plenty of fallen logs in our woods. . . so I'm cleaning up the understory at the same time . I worked on it for about an hour yesterday, and managed to get six of the posts dragged out of the woods, sawed (by hand), postholes dug, and the posts set. I've also found two pieces of wood that will make the crossposts. I ended up with blisters on my hands (foolish of me for not wearing gloves ) so I'll have to wait for those to go away before I do anything more.

The peas are doing really well now that nothing has to be covered. They've grown about an inch within the past three days, and I expect that they'll start climbing before too long. *Makes a mental note to put his pea fencing back up* The radishes need to be thinned (it's on my to do list ), and the spinach is starting to get a little bit healthier (it took a lot of damage being covered up every night).

I'm pretty sure that my asters are dead. . . but my violas and my bleeding heart survived and are doing well.

That's about all from NorthEast Ohio

That fence sounds really cool DiGs. You MUST post pictures when you're done with it! Or even halfway done with it.

So Bella and SL, any updates on your respective gardening endeavors?

I don't have much to report on my end. I was unable to garden this weekend due to the storms in Kansas (you might have heard about them ) on Saturday and then yesterday my husband and I were going to ride our motorcycle to the farm, but it was waaaay too windy. So we stayed home. Here are my few small updates....

~The peas and onions that are growing in my garden look really good. My peas have a couple blooms on them already.
~I've been doing a lot of weeding in my garden. I told myself that I was going to keep up with it this year. So far so good!
~We've been eating a lot of our own asparagus.
~The tomatoes might be getting slightly greener, though it might be my imagination. The peppers look good though. Tonight I'm going to try to get them ready to hand out to my husband's co-workers tomorrow. So there will be significantly less stuff in my greenhouse after that.
~A few of the peppers and eggplant are still being munched on by SOMETHING. I don't know what. I found one little worm on an eggplant and destroyed it, but I'm missing something else. A couple people are going to be getting some sad looking little peppers tomorrow.
~The six blueberry plants we got a few weeks ago? They're blooming.

I guess I had more to report on than I thought I would.

I just found out something really awesome in Plant Kingdom. Apparently Queen's Anne's Lace is actually a form of wild carrot... from which the food crop was domesticated. I wonder if you could eat them. We have lots where I'm from, and it's just another reason for me to like the flower.

It is apparently also a "beneficial weed" in it's native area

From the previous page ...

We rushed home yesterday and surprisingly the vast majority of the baby plants had done pretty well (the peppers looked happy LOL). But the tomato plants in the trays that hadn't been repotted yet were REALLY wilted (too much competition for water). Thankfully tomatoes are the most hardy garden plants I know of and revived after being saturated with water.

Whew, fk, so glad things were okay. A bit of a scare there. Mmm, indeed, I'm always amazed at how wilty-ish tomato plants revive after being watered.

And nice about the blueberry plants. Hurrah for the blooms! Btw, love your plant/greenhouse photos. Keep 'em coming.

Really curious how your Three Sisters plot will turn out. It was interesting reading more about this via that link you posted.

My garden is doing well, and is surviving the rather chilly nights we've had recently.

Yay! And how is that fence coming? Impressive venture, btw! Ditto on fk's request for photos at some point.

If you go dancing across your garden with aerating sandals. . . be sure to take a video

No kidding!

Local gardeners beware the frost of April.

To be sure! Some of our April days here are on the warmer side; others cooler; but the nights have mostly been down near the freezing mark, often with light frost. Love walking in the early mornings in this weather! So crisp and fresh.

Interesting, wolf, about Queen Anne's Lace. I'm sure it's Ontario's 'unofficial weed' (well, that's possibly dandelions, but I like 'em both): the lace is 'everywhere', and so pretty; delicate. Curious about the edibleness. Let us know if you try them.

Even though we're not planting veggies this year, I'm enlarging my perennial garden—making it much bigger, actually. People know I love plants, so whenever I get them, I always like to put them in the garden after the blooms have died, but I'm running out of space. Anyway, my kind hubby is digging up a long stretch along our side fence which I am going to start filling with perennials and experiment a bit as well. I've been wanting to do this since the kids were little, but with balls and animals, etc., running rampant in the backyard, it wasn't exactly practical. Now, however, it'll work well. I can't wait to get my hands in that nice, fresh dirt!

Apparently Queen's Anne's Lace is actually a form of wild carrot... from which the food crop was domesticated. I wonder if you could eat them.

Cool wolf! I didn't know that. I did a quick google and found that yes, you can eat the roots of Queen Anne's Lace just like a carrot. Don't eat the leaves though, they're toxic.

I'm enlarging my perennial garden—making it much bigger, actually.

This sounds a little familiar, though I don't do it on purpose. I go out of my way to avoid annuals because I don't take care of flowers very well, and as they're most often more finicky, I kill them. Perennials at least come back.

Well, yesterday I handed out plants to my husband's co-workers. 80 little plants total. Tonight I'm running the next batch of plants to my mom and some of the ladies from church. 29 plants. After that, it's just a good friend of mine (2 plants) and my sister (4 plants). All of the rest are mine.....all 71. I admittedly did a couple double takes when I realized how many plants I have left over. I sent my husband an email telling him he needs to find more people to take plants cause I'm out of options here. Ah well, I guess that's what my in-law's farm is for.

And how is that fence coming?

The blister has practically healed (thank to a little goading from me ). I was going to work on it today, but went out job-hunting instead (with good results too!). Tomorrow is supposed to be gorgeous weather-wise, so I'll spend the day working on the fence. I might have to buy some nails, but sawing those cross posts is going to be a pain.

I'm going to try to get the lettuce in the ground tomorrow, but that depends on whether or not Dad is willing to help me till up some more.

The peas are growing pretty quickly, and I've noticed that their "climbing vines" (you know, those little thready parts that wrap around everything ) are coming up on some of the bigger plants. I had to use some stakes on my pea fencing because it kept falling down. I'm really anxious for the little plantlets to start climbing.

The spinach is starting to get leaves. They're pretty tiny right now, but I'm pleased to see that they're bouncing back.

I thinned the radishes yesterday morning. I always hate doing this, because it feels like I'm wasting . One of the plants I pulled had a mini radish (about the size of one of a pencil eraser), which tasted good. Plenty of the roots were turning red and starting to swell.

That's about all for now

Helloooo people!

My Dad and I are growing a garden and our squash is blooming!!! Yay! But when will they grow fruit? Do they need to be pollinated by bugs before they grow something??

Ok and them we are also growing sun flowers! Do any of you know anything about sun flowers??

We were doing a plant nursery but it failed miserably , and we don't know why. They are now all dead or wilted. Is it because of the soil or the hot sun in Texas or what??

Does any one know about growing grapes???

Okay well that's all from me!!

Welcome to the gardening thread, Lady Lilliandil . I'll do my best to answer your questions

My Dad and I are growing a garden and our squash is blooming!!! Yay! But when will they grow fruit? Do they need to be pollinated by bugs before they grow something??

Yep, that's the way it works. First the plant will produce blooms. The blooms will be pollinated by insects, and then over the next few weeks or months (depending on the species) the fruit will form .

Ok and them we are also growing sun flowers! Do any of you know anything about sun flowers??

I've never had luck with them, so I'll let Fantasia Kitty or Johobbit answer your questions about them. Perhaps if you pointed out a specific question about them, you'll find an answer more quickly

Is it because of the soil or the hot sun in Texas or what??

I'd need to know the other variables that are missing. What plants were they? Where did you keep them? What kind of soil did you have them planted in? How often did you water them? How much sunlight did they get each day? Did you start the plants from seed, or from already sprouted plants?

Does any one know about growing grapes???

I know a little bit. Anything particular you want to know?

Hello Lady Lilliandil

My Dad and I are growing a garden and our squash is blooming!!! Yay! But when will they grow fruit? Do they need to be pollinated by bugs before they grow something??

An interesting fact about squash blossoms, they are male and female. Only the female blossoms will produce squash and they must be pollinated (yes, by bugs) with the male blossoms. Here's a picture, male blossom is on the left, female blossom (with baby squash) is on the right.

What kind of squash are you growing anyways?

Do any of you know anything about sun flowers??

They're tall, they're pretty, and they like to follow the sun with their faces. They're also the state flower of Kansas and driving past a sunflower field here always makes me happy. But I've never grown them (I'm actually going to try them here for the first time this year. ) Here's what the back of my seed packet says...

Sow in average soil in full sun after danger of frost. Sow sweeds about 8" apart and cover with 1" of fine soil. Firm lightly and keep evenly moist. Seedlings emerge in 7-14 days. Thin to stand 12-18" apart when seedlings are 1" high. Blooms in summer.

Is it because of the soil or the hot sun in Texas or what??

Same questions as what DiGs asked. Need more info. If I were to guess, I'd say too much heat and too little water. That seems to be the number one culprit of baby plants dying.

Does any one know about growing grapes???

Funny you should ask because last night I was out planting grapes. They're not a plant I'd recommend for the novice gardener, they require a lot of attention and work. Again, same question as DiGs, what is it you want to know about them?

I thinned the radishes yesterday morning. I always hate doing this, because it feels like I'm wasting

Yep... ditto. But I'm definitely becoming more heartless in my old age because I've realized the value of actually thinning my plants. My husband still won't do it. Or he will, and then he'll try to plant them somewhere else. So I just thin things when he's not around.

So going back to grapes, last night we trekked out to the farm to plant the replacement grapes we ordered for the ones that didn't make it. The problem was, since the last time we were there and had counted, several of them had decided they weren't dead after all and had put on buds. There was one dead plant there. We still opted to replace a couple that were way, way behind and baby them to see if they would catch up, and there were a couple that hadn't made it from last year, but even so, we have several extra grapes now that we're going to have to squeeze in somewhere. I feel like 'I have extra plants' is becoming a theme in my life....

My gardening agenda for today is pretty intense, and I don't know whether or not I'll be able to get everything accomplished (particularly due to the scattered showers in the area today), but here it is:

1. Sink the remaining fence posts. I did four more this morning, but a shower drove me indoors (I needed a break anyways). There are six posts left to sink. I've got one post ready. . . so I still need to find/saw five more, plus dig the holes. The soil on the South side of my garden seems to be a lot rockier than the soil on the North side

2. Till some more. This depends on my dad's willingness to help before he goes to work. I'm a menace with the tiller, and have killed plants before because the thing ran away from me .

3. IF we get some more tilling done, I'll get a row of onions planted.

4. I'd like to get the lettuces in the ground. I'm going to plant them in the area recently vacated by the onions in hope that the onions took up a good deal of the sulfur (which I think makes lettuces too bitter).

5. Head up to the dollar store and by another hoe (ours broke) and hoe the area around the peas, radishes and spinach.

WHEW

"I feel like 'I have extra plants' is becoming a theme in my life....

Guess that's better than the opposite.

I go out of my way to avoid annuals because I don't take care of flowers very well, and as they're most often more finicky, I kill them. Perennials at least come back.

And annuals become expensive, having to buy them every year. I still do some annuals to fill in spaces, but am leaning more towards perennials now, by a long shot.

*enjoys reading about where your plants are headed, fantasia* I hope there are more takers at your hubby's work.

I thinned the radishes yesterday morning. I always hate doing this, because it feels like I'm wasting

I know what you mean! But, I have to keep reminding myself that it's best for the plants, to be sure. And I have become more ruthless over the years, as I see and read about the benefits.

Ok and them we are also growing sun flowers! Do any of you know anything about sun flowers??

Ditto to what fantasia wrote. I've always had great success in growing sunflowers, Lady L. And there are a number of smaller varieties, if you don't care for the traditional 10' tall type. I usually get 6' tall seeds. I mean, the seeds aren't that large, but ... you know what I mean. It's amazing how thick the stalks become when full-grown. But beware at that point: the squirrels and nuthatches will descend. I've even known a squirrel to nab the entire bloom off the stalk (probably at least 7" in diameter), then try to run away with it. So funny! Guess his family had a good feast that night.

Cool picture of the squash blossoms, fk. *loves their bright colour*

*roots for DiGs in his gardening plans for today*