My seed catalogs came today!! Squee! - Page 2

[CariOfOz]

Sneaking in from rainy Australia in effort to prove that yes, winter will end eventually I'm a container gardener at the moment.. and have cucumbers coming in, plants with green peppers all over, and a tomato that is starting to colour (after me hacking the plant to nothing because it was freakishly diseased looking and I thought near death.. the bloody things grew back and have fruit now? wtf? ) Herbs galore, and spring onions Which I"m stoked about because I failed 2yrs running with those.

[Theoretica]

Originally Posted by CariOfOz

Sneaking in from rainy Australia in effort to prove that yes, winter will end eventually I'm a container gardener at the moment.. and have cucumbers coming in, plants with green peppers all over, and a tomato that is starting to colour (after me hacking the plant to nothing because it was freakishly diseased looking and I thought near death.. the bloody things grew back and have fruit now? wtf? ) Herbs galore, and spring onions Which I"m stoked about because I failed 2yrs running with those.

You mock our snow bound pain!! A pox on your tomatoes!!





Ok now...joking aside, tell us more about your garden and nobody gets hurt Slowly....with all the juicy earthy details...

[Lisoula]

Originally Posted by Theoretica

You mock our snow bound pain!! A pox on your tomatoes!!





Ok now...joking aside, tell us more about your garden and nobody gets hurt Slowly....with all the juicy earthy details...

Yes!!! I'm especially interested in knowing how you got cucumbers in containers. I tried it for 2 seasons without success....and cukes are my favorite!

(And last year my cukes in my SFG got powdery mildew and died, so I've been unfortunately cukeless for 3 whole years!)

[Theoretica]

Me too!! I want to container garden on my deck, because several raised beds in the yard isn't enough LOL, but always end up with rot or mold or something...

[CariOfOz]

Originally Posted by Theoretica

You mock our snow bound pain!! A pox on your tomatoes!!





Ok now...joking aside, tell us more about your garden and nobody gets hurt Slowly....with all the juicy earthy details...

Oh dear, don't live vicariously through my pitiful little garden! I have about 10 pots of stuff.. 3 capsicum/pepper (one cute 'patio' sized plant with smaller fruit), 4 tomatoes (more about these evil things shortly), 1 dead yellow button squash , 3 containters of silverbeet that is And a couple of stacking gardens with herbs and such in them

Lisoula... I have had a heckuva time with the cukes that's for sure lol. 2nd year trying them. They are in about a 25litre pot that I sprinkle with an organic veggie fertilizer now & again, and give them seasol on occasion. I have some plastic garden mesh nailed up between two upright posts on our fence as a sort of trellis They have obligingly grown up it! They look horrible, as we had a hail storm a week ago or so and all the leaves are holey and torn, and the bottom leaves are doing that ugly dying thing that they always seem to do... but so far we have had 4 cukes from this attempt! And I can see flowers out there now so more will be on the way. I'm a bit that they do NOT seem to keep well.. even over night in the fridge (in a tupperware fridgesmart thing that usually keeps veggies fresh for ages) they shriveled up a bit

My tomatos... *sigh* They had what looked like blight, then a burrowing caterpillar or something ate the insides of the top of one of the stems! so I just hacked them down to where the ICK started, and the darn things look gorgeous now LOL. I dont' know that they'll stay that way though. SO I don't think you should waste your energy poxing them.. t hey'll likely do the hard work for you

I have a wooden 1.2m square raised bed that I want to set up, since we've decided to continue our lease here... not going to ask the agents as it's easier to beg forgiviness than to ask permission and the lawn here is in AWFUL shape anyway so this is an improvement

We actually have the opposite of your problem. It's SO hot here it kills things, between the temp and the harsh sun anyway. I had zucchini and they just couldn't handle it (and zucchini like heat don't they?!?!?) I haven't had any success at all growing curcurbits of any kind actually And I'd kill to have zucchini as we love them (oh wait.. I have killed, there are several zucchini plants in plant heavent hanks to me ) I'm actually working out where to put my garden bed, and I'm having to make sure to find a place that is shaded from the afternoon sun!

[fierrbugg]

We also got ours last week. They are beautiful and I think I want one of everything.

We're in zone 9 - which is a far cry from IL where I grew up. So by the time we had everything in place to start planting last year (fence to keep the dogs out, etc), it was way late in the season for the veggies I wanted. So, planning my garden today - and we're going to be getting at least our tomatoes planted next week I guess. It's our first year doing it on our own, so wish us luck.

[goldfinches]

Originally Posted by lmonter

Oh do I hear you. I'm going from chilly zone 5 to zone 7/8 on the coast depending who you talk to. Add in that at this point we'll probably rent rather than buy, oh, and the newborn. Yeah. It's going to be one helluva year.

Yea, we're renting too. I've already bummed some garden land off my mom and sister who live in the area.
No newborn for me, but heavily pregnant by then - due in Aug. I feel ya!

[lmonter]

Originally Posted by goldfinches

Yea, we're renting too. I've already bummed some garden land off my mom and sister who live in the area.
No newborn for me, but heavily pregnant by then - due in Aug. I feel ya!

During harvest season? Youch. I had/have a hard enough time *just* being pregnant this fall. I still have apples in my garage I need to turn into applesauce. Whoops.

Might need to find a container gardening guru or five on here - I can get big containers from a local tree nursery here to take with me, and then just fill 'em up down there, or something.... Gah. Limboland kinda sucks when you have plans, eh?

[AlwaysByMySide]

I was moving (originally, I thought I was moving into an apartment, and ended up buying a house instead) during the spring/early summer last year, and did all of my gardening in containers. I made a lot of DIY Earthboxes, and they did very well, and "moved" well too. In fact, I'm planning on doing most of my stuff in DIY Earthboxes this year, a few in pots and other containers, and I think the only things going in the ground are a three sisters garden and zucchini. I turned into a container convert.

[CariOfOz]

Theoretica, darn you and your pox in the last couple of days my resurrected tomato plants started doing the rusty leaf thing. Not sure what it is? Going to go google 'mater diseases. I however DO have over half a dozen mini red peppers that I'm going to stem, seed and stuff with feta cheese & marinate in oil & herbs and more coming!

[JamieCatheryn]

Your peppers sound great, I want to grow peppers but can't do seed starting right now, I need to find a good local source for the plants. Maybe the place I get my tomatoes will have some peppers ready for me this year. I got my catalogs and put in my order from Southern Exposure. Carrots, snap peas, spinach, watermelon, summer squash. I have pole beans saved from last year's garden. I'm going to dig a new bed as soon as the ground thaws out (March). Looks like most, half anyway, of my crops will be started before the last frost. Hope my hairy vetch winter cover will be ready to till under by then, I'm s'posed to wait for some flowers on it.

[Theoretica]

Awww I'm sorry, I didn't mean it

I think it's potassium that they need when they're rusty? I'm not completely sure offhand, if you find it let us know too!

[CariOfOz]

LOL I have been using some tomato fertilizer so I would think it would have all a tomato needs, but I'll look into what else I can do for potassium (If it is potassium, would it be normal for the plants to grow back looking good (at least for a while) after I heavily pruned them? I thought they were dying so I chopped them back... and the silly things came back looking nice, until just this week the browning started!

Jamie, thanks We are pepper loving people here (sweet peppers not hot ones although I'm warming (pun intended) to the hot ones!

[JessicaS]

Originally Posted by CariOfOz

We actually have the opposite of your problem. It's SO hot here it kills things, between the temp and the harsh sun anyway. I had zucchini and they just couldn't handle it (and zucchini like heat don't they?!?!?) I haven't had any success at all growing curcurbits of any kind actually And I'd kill to have zucchini as we love them (oh wait.. I have killed, there are several zucchini plants in plant heavent hanks to me ) I'm actually working out where to put my garden bed, and I'm having to make sure to find a place that is shaded from the afternoon sun!

???

How hot does it get there? Our problem last year was that it wasn't hot *enough* it made things all screwy.

How often do you water and how long??

[CariOfOz]

Abimommy... we're sort of inland in Queensland from Brisbane (for map reference and where we are the temps are consistently in the 30s Celsius. That is anywhere from 88F up... our REAL issue is the SUN. It literally bakes plants in the ground. That and drought of course It isn't terribly unusual for us to edge up to 38C, which is about 100F I beileve.

OOps missed part of your question. All my plants are in containers at this point (fairly big ones, about 5gal) and I have to water every.single.day! Sometimes twice a day. I water until a tiny bit trickles out of the drainage holes at the bottom. I find my tomatos and peppers rarely need the 2nd watering, but my silverbeet lays down like a bad lounge singer if it doesn't get a late afternoon drink!

[JessicaS]

Originally Posted by CariOfOz

Abimommy... we're sort of inland in Queensland from Brisbane (for map reference and where we are the temps are consistently in the 30s Celsius. That is anywhere from 88F up... our REAL issue is the SUN. It literally bakes plants in the ground. That and drought of course It isn't terribly unusual for us to edge up to 38C, which is about 100F I beileve.

100-110F is common here is why I was wondering Maybe you need more water or some partial shade? The sun hits a *lot* harder there doesn't it?? I know it hits a lot harder where my sister lives even though our temps get higher.

Maybe check for gardening websites that would be local to you? They might have some magic trick.

[CariOfOz]

Yep, we have the highest skin cancer rates in the world.. partly because some aussies are too dense to cover up though but partly because I swear we MUST be 50k miles closer to the sun than the rest of the dang planet I have lived all over the US (from alaska to Miami florida) and I have never seen sun like this! I think that we're mostly ok with watering, but that I really am going to have to move the plants to a half day sun situation. Because I'm guessing 4hrs of our 'supersun' is equivalent to 2 days worth of mere mortal sun

[JessicaS]

Originally Posted by CariOfOz

Because I'm guessing 4hrs of our 'supersun' is equivalent to 2 days worth of mere mortal sun

Maybe It couldn't hurt.

[tsk_mum]

I just got my Seed Savers catalog & have been studying it I have never ordered before always bought local so I'm trying to plan ahead (being pregnant helps me in this area, LOL)
I'm in NC and not a gardening professional at all so I will be checking this forum often.
Our garden is usually pretty good if we can keep deer/rabbits out of it!
Last yr we had a good turnout for everything but corn, not sure why??