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[baymule]

Wow! Your garden looks awesome, so healthy and green. It is growing and looking great!

 

[ninnymary]

Bee, everything looks gorgeous! I love your arch and have some questions.

First of all is that a cattle panel or a concrete rebar panel? How far apart is the arch at the bottom? Could it be made smaller at the bottom since I don't have much space? How is it held down? I'm afraid that if I go too narrow that it will pop up on me! I could put it over my kale bed or something and be able to grow the butternut squash there. Right now it's in a super tiny small spot and starting to vine. It's over the brick path and I've had to block that path with pots so that the kids don't go or ride their toys in there.

Why did you decide to use the black landscaping cloth in that particular spot? Do you eventually plan to use it throughout your garden?

I love reading about your garden.

Mary

 

[Beekissed]

Bee, everything looks gorgeous! I love your arch and have some questions.

First of all is that a cattle panel or a concrete rebar panel? How far apart is the arch at the bottom? Could it be made smaller at the bottom since I don't have much space? How is it held down? I'm afraid that if I go too narrow that it will pop up on me! I could put it over my kale bed or something and be able to grow the butternut squash there. Right now it's in a super tiny small spot and starting to vine. It's over the brick path and I've had to block that path with pots so that the kids don't go or ride their toys in there.

Why did you decide to use the black landscaping cloth in that particular spot? Do you eventually plan to use it throughout your garden?

I love reading about your garden.

Mary

Miss Mary, that's just half of a cattle panel that used to be a tomato trellis for me. I stuck it between these two hay bale raised beds to get it out of the way for awhile, then decided to leave it there to put some vines over. It's not fastened down in any way, just there by tension of the arch held within the ends of the raised beds.

I'd say those ends are 4 ft apart, but you can certainly go smaller on that as long as you secure the ends to something to keep it arched. You can even cut the end wire off the ends to leave pointy ends you can insert into the soil, which should hold it where you want it, though if you get high winds that could catch up under your vines and knock it over, that wouldn't be secure enough. A few well placed pieces of rebar and some zip ties or wire will secure it where you want it.

I put landscaping fabric down for peppers, as an experiment on keeping their feet warmer. I've found in these deep mulch gardens that the mulch keeps the soil very cool even when it's hot weather and my peppers weren't growing well until around August...they would just sit there catching disease and pests until then, which just killed them before they could produce.

So, I tried planting them into the black landscaping fabric to see if that would absorb the sun in that area enough to warm their feet. I also planted some directly into the hay bales when I found out how hot the inside of those bales were staying. Those have succeeding in growing well, as have those in the fabric.

They are much bigger now, but this is some hot peppers planted directly into the hay bales, which are uncomfortably warm in the inside. Each bale has a plant or two in it, be it peppers, flowers, watermelon, tomatoes, cukes and even a butternut squash. All the plants planted directly into these rotting bales are doing exceptionally well, especially that butternut and the Brandywine tomato.

 

[Finding God in the garden]

Hey everyone,

Here's my garden update:

My 2 early-mid season potato varieties appear to be dying back normally now after the brown spot/early blight issues resolved. They grew back really well after some pretty aggressive pruning. My German Butterball potatoes (late season) are still struggling and might be a complete waste, the orange bugs that nearly took them out toward the beginning of the season are back with a few Colorado potato beetle friends.

My one tomato plant is growing very well now but I waited too long to cage it thinking I wouldn't have any plants to cage. There isn't many baby tomatoes on it yet.

Apple trees and cherry tree are still doing ok despite the fungal issues they have had. Trees seem to be overall growing well.

Wood chips are still working pretty well at keeping weeds down.

Bee, I was reading that sometimes hay can have herbicide residue on it, are you not concerned about that?

 

[baymule]

Hey everyone,

Here's my garden update:

My 2 early-mid season potato varieties appear to be dying back normally now after the brown spot/early blight issues resolved. They grew back really well after some pretty aggressive pruning. My German Butterball potatoes (late season) are still struggling and might be a complete waste, the orange bugs that nearly took them out toward the beginning of the season are back with a few Colorado potato beetle friends.

My one tomato plant is growing very well now but I waited too long to cage it thinking I wouldn't have any plants to cage. There isn't many baby tomatoes on it yet.

Apple trees and cherry tree are still doing ok despite the fungal issues they have had. Trees seem to be overall growing well.

Wood chips are still working pretty well at keeping weeds down.

Bee, I was reading that sometimes hay can have herbicide residue on it, are you not concerned about that?

Your garden looks great!

 

[Beekissed]

Bee, I was reading that sometimes hay can have herbicide residue on it, are you not concerned about that?

Not in this area. Most farmers here aren't that particular about their hay, as it's not a food crop or for commercial sale. Most use their own hay for their own animals and sometimes sell the excess hay towards the end of winter. Cows are none too particular about their hay, so weeds are not much of an issue. Now, horses are a tad more particular, but horses are none too common on larger farms any longer. In any case, herbicides cost money and would cut any profit margin a farmer would make on any hay sales.

You are more likely to find herbicides used in straw, as that is a byproduct of grain crops sold commercially and there is a big money loss if the fields have weeds in them.

 

[Beekissed]

My sugar snaps are done for the season...I may plant some more in August to see if I can get some into fall.

Getting cukes now every day...Mom can't keep up with eating them all, so we generally give those away to family and such. Wish I still liked them, but for some reason I can't even bear the smell of cucumber anymore...especially in lotions and soaps. Makes me sick to my stomach.

I've never seen a butternut squash like the one planted in that hay bale....it has as many runners outward and over the arch as those pumpkins. Sadly, many of the tiny squash have had blossom end rot due to all the heavy rains, but we are getting a week of no rain this week, so any new little squash should survive.

Beans are really blooming and starting to produce...I hope to keep on top of keeping them picked so I can keep them producing until it's time to do a canning up. For now we've picked and snapped a quart or so...Mom ate half a qt. on her own, couldn't get over the good flavor, so at least she's happy with the beans this year.

Plenty of squash coming on too...will be giving it away as much as possible too. I want to keep them picked so as to prolong production there too.

I have WAY less JBs this year without having the traps out and planting sacrificial Fortex beans on the perimeter of the garden. Those beans are lopping over the fence where the chickens can pick off beetles, which is a win/win...funny to watch them jumping up in the air to reach those bugs.

My hay is seriously thin right now and will not be able to hold moisture with this coming week of hot weather. I need to go get a round bale of just plain ol' good hay if I'm going to keep this garden thriving...no mulch hay being sold right now.

 

[ninnymary]

Not in this area. Most farmers here aren't that particular about their hay, as it's not a food crop or for commercial sale. Most use their own hay for their own animals and sometimes sell the excess hay towards the end of winter. Cows are none too particular about their hay, so weeds are not much of an issue. Now, horses are a tad more particular, but horses are none too common on larger farms any longer. In any case, herbicides cost money and would cut any profit margin a farmer would make on any hay sales.

You are more likely to find herbicides used in straw, as that is a byproduct of grain crops sold commercially and there is a big money loss if the fields have weeds in them.

Bee, as you know I'm interested in also switching from wood chips to hay at least on some areas. Do you think your theory also would apply to me out here in the west coast? I'm not sure the young kids working at the place where I would buy it would know if it contained herbicides or not.

Mary

 

[flowerbug]

chickens won't eat cucumbers? i can almost live off them this time of the year, but i understand, there's certain smells that turn my stomach too.

and, yep, there's never enough mulch when it gets to this time of the year...

 

[Beekissed]

Bee, as you know I'm interested in also switching from wood chips to hay at least on some areas. Do you think your theory also would apply to me out here in the west coast? I'm not sure the young kids working at the place where I would buy it would know if it contained herbicides or not.

Mary

No, I don't. I live in podunk WV and even here I'm sure there are some out there who want to douse poison on everything that lives and breathes, just not many of them in my area of the state. And I still ask.

I'd ask when you phone them about the hay...just ask about how many weeds are in the hay and they will either say they have fairly clean fields with a few weeds or they will say they spray for them. If they don't fall for that one, ask them outright if they use herbicides on their hay fields.