Gardening 2023

[dks]

Northern Oklahoma - garden in, but not much hope of making anything again this year. High winds, hot weather, drought and wildfires will take the starch out of a man. I have been gardening for 60+ years and can't remember when it was this dry with no hope of rain in the future. I start watering in the morning and stop in the late afternoon. I get up and do it all over again the next day. It's hard to make much of a garden using City water...and to think folks drink that stuff. About all I can do is pray for rain, but it so far it hasn't helped much.

 

[64Springer]

Is a 5 gallon bucket big enough? Tomatoes like to spread their roots.

10 gallon or bigger pots work well.

All I do now is container tomatoes.

Watering is tricky. Container soil dries out quickly, but tomatoes don't like too much water too fast.

This year I'm going to try cardboard on top of the soil to minimize evaporation and use less water.

 

[Eutycus]

Northern Oklahoma - garden in, but not much hope of making anything again this year. High winds, hot weather, drought and wildfires will take the starch out of a man. I have been gardening for 60+ years and can't remember when it was this dry with no hope of rain in the future. I start watering in the morning and stop in the late afternoon. I get up and do it all over again the next day. It's hard to make much of a garden using City water...and to think folks drink that stuff. About all I can do is pray for rain, but it so far it hasn't helped much.

I agree on that city water thing. I cant imagine what fluoride is doing to plants much less humans. Even well water will just barely keep plants alive and nowhere near thriving.

 

[TDM]

I agree on that city water thing. I cant imagine what fluoride is doing to plants much less humans. Even well water will just barely keep plants alive and nowhere near thriving.

Nothing like God’s gift of rain.

 

[Eutycus]

Nothing like God’s gift of rain.

I used to refer to rain as God's MiracleGro.

 

[Eutycus]

I'm about to have a new, deeper water well drilled for our household use but I intend to keep the old shallow well. That well's water is chocked full of minerals (maybe too full) and I intend to use it solely for watering.

 

[TDM]

The minerals in the water will be good for the garden. Well water is what we have.

 

[Tom A Hawk]

Every year I try to plant something different or unusual. Have tried sweet potatoes but our growing season is not long enough. I have two year old ginger growing in a pot. Tried shitake mushrooms and succeeded in harvesting exactly two. Even did rice by making a pond with 2 x 4's and a tarp which worked out pretty well. Peanuts were a failure. Have not yet decided what the experiment will be this year.

 

[Eutycus]

Every year I try to plant something different or unusual. Have tried sweet potatoes but our growing season is not long enough. I have two year old ginger growing in a pot. Tried shitake mushrooms and succeeded in harvesting exactly two. Even did rice by making a pond with 2 x 4's and a tarp which worked out pretty well. Peanuts were a failure. Have not yet decided what the experiment will be this year.

Would your season up there be long enough for sunflowers?

 

[TDM]

Believe it or not I’ve hand sowed the sunflower bird seeds and had good results in food plots.

 

[tom mesa]

10 gallon or bigger pots work well.

All I do now is container tomatoes.

Watering is tricky. Container soil dries out quickly, but tomatoes don't like too much water too fast.

This year I'm going to try cardboard on top of the soil to minimize evaporation and use less water.

Have you ever planted tomatoes in straw bales? I've had great luck doing it here in Arizona. Just open a hole in a side that doesn't have strings and usually I plant two to a bale. Water soaks in the straw. The tomatoes use the water held by the bale.

 

[64Springer]

Have you ever planted tomatoes in straw bales? I've had great luck doing it here in Arizona. Just open a hole in a side that doesn't have strings and usually I plant two to a bale. Water soaks in the straw. The tomatoes use the water held by the bale.

That would be a neat trick.

 

[nhmoose]

 

[TDM]

My Carpenter Bees have a taste for post 2004 treated wood. Doesn’t slow them down a bit.

 

[TDM]

Back home now and just took these photos of our small container garden. I’ve gardened at some level all my life, but I’ve never before had a tomato or squash form on the plant in April. Crazy spring for that to happen. The garden at the camp is way behind this.

 

[oldwood]

Here in central Pa. , I'm two weeks out from prepping my tiny garden for some tomato , and Zucchini squashes. Have to run the rotary mower through the patch to grind up the dead weeds , then rototiller it . Need about 8 , or so Big Boy tomato plants , and 6 Squash from the local green house. One thing.....Don't want to wait too long to buy my started plants this year , due to the early spring. Green houses sell out quick. Luck to you all , with your gardens.

 

[Eutycus]

I waited too long, I wanted to put in 3 or 4 more squash plants but the local nursery is sold out.

 

[cynthialee]

here in Washington on the east side of the state I know better than to plant anything before the mountain is clear of snow. As soon as I see Mt Spokane clear of the white stuff, my gardening starts in earnest.
I have some stuff going in the green house and in the dining room.

 

[TDM]

I waited too long, I wanted to put in 3 or 4 more squash plants but the local nursery is sold out.

I bet you could still plant squash seeds without problem. Only takes 5-6 days for them to germinate. The squash plants here and at the camp are seed grown. I normally plant 3-4 seeds per hill and keep them moist. With good seeds, 2 per hill is fine. I always end up thinning them down to one plant of course. I plant them about 1/2" deep.

 

[Eutycus]

I had 5 extra tomato plants in pots as kind of a replacement in case any others froze out. That's now way beyond happening. My nephew took the Old German and the Cherokee Purple this morning. Said he only had 2 big pots. I thought for sure he would have taken the Red or Black cherry tomatoes.I guess I'm stuck with them along with the 5 of those varieties that I already have in the garden.