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[ninnymary]

Bee, is everything pretty much at it's stage as prior years? I was wondering if the BTE method had slowed the plant's growth.

Mary

 

[Beekissed]

Bee, is everything pretty much at it's stage as prior years? I was wondering if the BTE method had slowed the plant's growth.

Mary

I think that cold snap we got slowed things down more than the BTE and seeds failing to germinate during that time...they had to be replanted and are just now coming up. But, having said that, things are slower than they were last year and that was the first year with the chips, which should have meant it would be even more difficult to get a regular growth pattern, so I'm not sure but it could be many things.

Could have been that heavy leaf cover I had to remove and all the tannins from it leaching into the soils and the resulting soil acidity. Could have been those heavy frosts and cold nights we got in May. Could be my seed sources are failing me or the use of older seeds. Could be all the amendments I'm constantly throwing on there~epsom salts, pelleted lime, old horse manure, etc.

Not sure, but many people just got their gardens out a few weeks back, so I'm ahead of the curve in a lot of ways. We had so much rain there for awhile that the area gardeners could not till their soil, preventing them from getting anything into the ground as early as they usually do. When you live on heavy clay soil, it pretty much dictates when you can garden and when you cannot.

July is our big growing month here in the mountains, so many things that were slow in the spring will grow like crazy in July, August, and September and even continue to do so in October if we have an Indian summer.

 

[ninnymary]

Bee, I moved a full grown sage and didn't make it fast enough for me so I pulled it out. I have planted 4" sage twice but they keep dying. The current one is half dead. I know it's all the manure that I put in that bed. I've given the area a good soaking periodically hoping to dilute it but so far it's not working. Do you have any ideas of what else I can do? I need a sage plant and that is the perfect spot for one and the only space I have for it.

Mary

 

[Nyboy]

Doesn't sage do well in containers ? Shopping trip for pots in future .

 

[ninnymary]

Doesn't sage do well in containers ? Shopping trip for pots in future .

It might but I want it in the ground were I have other herbs and roses.

I tried growing rosemary in a pot and it died. Just planted another in a shape of a little tree that I got from Trader Joe's. It took me a couple weeks to find a piece of pottery to cover the hole in the pot. Those roots were a mess! So root bound that I had to spend a long time loosening them up and then soaking the plant before I planted it. I should have just bought a 4 inch plant.

I hope it does well. I really would like a rosemary but I just don't have the room for the size it gets.

Mary

 

[Beekissed]

Bee, I moved a full grown sage and didn't make it fast enough for me so I pulled it out. I have planted 4" sage twice but they keep dying. The current one is half dead. I know it's all the manure that I put in that bed. I've given the area a good soaking periodically hoping to dilute it but so far it's not working. Do you have any ideas of what else I can do? I need a sage plant and that is the perfect spot for one and the only space I have for it.

Mary

You could try raking back or removing the manure from that area. That's what I had to with those leaves that were poisoning the soil. You might also give that area a dose of sweet lime to kind of bring up the pH a bit...that's what I followed up the leaf removal with and the tomatoes are coming back great.

I had to rake back the chips entirely from the area I planted the peppers, then covered the soil with grass clippings. I think the chips were keeping the soil too cool for the peppers to do well and the grass clippings seemed to keep the soil good and warm, so the peppers are doing better now.

Sure hope that works, Miss Mary....you let us know what you found or did to help?

 

[Nyboy]

Mary when I have a root bound plant, I just use a knife and saw though them. A nother good reason to carry a pocket knife

 

[Beekissed]

Eating the first standard tomato this morning...not large, but very sweet. Also eating first large, tender and juicy rhubarb, though I've picked several stalks this season that were old and tough or young and skinny just to prune the plant.

I wait all garden season for that first mater sammich, so this is a good day! The rhubarb was wonderful as well...tart, crunchy and just wonderful!

 

[ninnymary]

Bee, even though some of the sage I planted has died due to too much manure, it looks like the main stalk is going to make it. Still a little hard to tell since I don't see new growth. I couldn't rake any manure or chips away since they had pretty much decomposed.

Mary

 

[ninnymary]

Bee, can't wait to hear at the end of your season how much the BTE had changed your production.

Mary