Garden Life is an Experiment

[ninnymary]

Just saw this thread about Life is an Experiment.

In the last few years I started growing more and more. Slowly some of my perennial beds started getting smaller. I also wished and dreamed my yard would be so much bigger.

Well now as I get ready to retire instead of attempting to grow more since I'll have more time I am starting to do the opposite! I am tired of growing things that only produce midiocure. I'm tired of wasting my time, energy, and precious water on things that only produce 1 or 2 fruits. This doesn't bring me joy.

So my experience is that I'm going to grow only things which I know I can grow well. These are tomatoes, peppers, pole beans, and zucchini. I hope to be more organized and be on a regular fertilizing program which I now lack. I fertilize at planting time but then kind of forget about it. I'll remember to do it again only after the plant is already looking pretty bad.

I want to do more research and do a better job with things that I have trouble growing but like to eat. One of these is cucumbers. I tend to get the leaves wet then have powdery mildew. My watering is also not very consistent. I can't seem to grow patty pans but I want to try them again.

I want to do a better job gardening and cover things before insects or birds get to them. I'll plant seedlings only to have something nibble them down to their stalks!

Life is an experiment and sometimes some of us go back full circle and I think that's ok. Sometimes small is better. Surely better quality is better than poor quality even though the quantity may not be there.

Mary

 

[digitS']

Sometimes small is better

Mary, my ideal would be to walk down my back steps and have all that I want to eat right there, 12 months a year. I could do it! However, my protective growing would be a violation of code … doggone it!

Perhaps you could allow just one area each year for experiments. Using what does best in the larger part of your yard. I’m a strong believer in playing to win. In some facets of life, I try not to play at all because of this personality quirk. Winning doesn’t bring me much pleasure there but I don’t like losing.

Gardening wins are joyful! It sure don’t mean that I have to be a stick in the mud, however. If I like something and it does well for me, I’m elated. If it's the same old/same old, I may be bored with it. Times Change and there have been several seasons to try a little and be willing to replace the old and experience what, for me anyway, was sumthin different .

Steve

 

[ninnymary]

Steve, I’ve come to realize that I may be trying to grow too much without much success.

I really want to do succession planting. With my. mild weather I should be able to grow year round. I hope to work more on planning so I will know exactly when to plant what to keep the garden go

I want to be able to grow more Asian greens.

I want to be able to grow Swiss chard but that darn leaf miner keeps getting it. I bought an organic spray that I used once and then thought it was too much trouble. Had to spray I think both sides of the leaf. I shouldn’t give up on Swiss chard. Next year I want to stick with spraying and really make an attempt.

As far as critters go there’s not much I can do about those darn squirrels eating my apples and persimmons. As much as I LOVE persimmons I’m thinking of getting rid of my tree that I planted 3 years ago. Why have it if I don’t get to enjoy the fruit? It just causes me stress to see those squirrels get the fruit. I don’t need that. Plus I think the space will look more open without it and I’ll have a full view of my coop from my deck.

Mary

 

[flowerbug]

the local conditions do tend to trump about any attempts to try to grow things that may not do well. animals being a challenge here that is the primary reason why we don't even attempt to bother growing sweet corn. while we do like to eat it, we don't like it as much as it would be too much effort to protect it consistently and long enough to get a harvest.

if we tried to grow apple trees we'd need even more fences than we have to make sure the deer didn't get them all. as it is the deer come through here almost every night wandering around and eating some of the flowers or vegetables that are outside the fenced areas.

one thing about removing a tree @ninnymary is that it may give you more light for your other efforts.

and speaking about making sure to plant things that work well, even some years the reliable plants may not like the conditions. i've had that happen.

in contrast this year i expected with the heat and dry spells we've had that certain beans would not do that great, but while i've been out picking this past week in some cases this is probably the best crop i've had of these beans in years. i planted a lot more of them too because i wanted a bigger harvest and by chance i just lined up with the conditions they were happy with. at least in one garden... diversity in planting soil conditions also may have helped there...

fertilizers, not something i do much with here. i feed certain plants when i plant them with the worms/worm compost and that's it for the season. i can rotate plant through that area for a few more seasons or plantings before having to add more. our clay soil holds nutrients well.

same for sprays for bugs or fungi - i don't focus on those much at all. sure i'll pick off a few bugs but i rarely have to go out of my way to treat or scan an entire plant or garden for pests. perhaps the tomato worms and japanese beetles are the worst offenders, but that's about it and i tend to only do those for a short period of time. if the plant won't survive our conditions i'm not going to keep growing it and will try other things instead. we had powdery mildew show up about 6 weeks earlier than normal. i pulled the plants that were the worst and hoped it wouldn't affect too much else. it knocked back the melons a bit, but i still have melons ripening now.

squash bugs and borers are no fun, but we have squash on the vines and some getting ready to harvest. i'm probably going to have to rotate plant somewhere else next year but perhaps melons will be ok moved to one of the currents squash patches so i may try that. hope the deer don't trample the melons...

 

[heirloomgal]

Steve, I’ve come to realize that I may be trying to grow too much without much success.

I really want to do succession planting. With my. mild weather I should be able to grow year round. I hope to work more on planning so I will know exactly when to plant what to keep the garden go

I want to be able to grow more Asian greens.

I want to be able to grow Swiss chard but that darn leaf miner keeps getting it. I bought an organic spray that I used once and then thought it was too much trouble. Had to spray I think both sides of the leaf. I shouldn’t give up on Swiss chard. Next year I want to stick with spraying and really make an attempt.

As far as critters go there’s not much I can do about those darn squirrels eating my apples and persimmons. As much as I LOVE persimmons I’m thinking of getting rid of my tree that I planted 3 years ago. Why have it if I don’t get to enjoy the fruit? It just causes me stress to see those squirrels get the fruit. I don’t need that. Plus I think the space will look more open without it and I’ll have a full view of my coop from my deck.

Mary

I had leaf miner troubles on both beet greens and Swiss chard, it discouraged me for awhile to even try growing them anymore. But I've since stopped that problem by watering all the time, lots of water too. If they are really moist, and never dry out, they don't get the miners.

 

[digitS']

Have you tried just removing the leaves?

My gardens have seldom had serious leaf miner problems.

I remember the miners showing up in a big way on a small planting of chard. I don't remember what I did but it didn't work. After that, I have just removed leaves.

Steve

 

[ninnymary]

@heirloomgal with our drought I have to minimum water the plants. I am already trying to conserve water in other ways.

@flowerbug one of the things I want to do is really concentrate on the quality of my soil. I want it to be the best it can be so that the plants will grow big and strong and able to fight diseases and pests better. I only fertilize when I plant but things like my 3 David Austin roses I would like to have on a regular fertilizing schedule. I also want a balanced ecosystem to cut down on pests. Fortunately I'm lazy, haha and don't spray anything. By the way, I want to save seeds from my Petit Gris de Rennes melon and a lot of them are thin or flat. Should I discard those?

Steve, I do cut off infected leaves on plants. The swiss chard had leaf miner on almost every leaf so there wasn't much of it left. I think with that organic spray that I have, I think it's called Jack something, and covering it, I may be able to grow it.

If I do a little more research and work a little harder, I should be able to grow year round for 2 households. But I need to start with improving my soil. This year I bought compost but it didn't seem to make much of a difference in my raised bed.

Mary

 

[flowerbug]

@heirloomgal with our drought I have to minimum water the plants. I am already trying to conserve water in other ways.

@flowerbug one of the things I want to do is really concentrate on the quality of my soil. I want it to be the best it can be so that the plants will grow big and strong and able to fight diseases and pests better. I only fertilize when I plant but things like my 3 David Austin roses I would like to have on a regular fertilizing schedule. I also want a balanced ecosystem to cut down on pests. Fortunately I'm lazy, haha and don't spray anything. By the way, I want to save seeds from my Petit Gris de Rennes melon and a lot of them are thin or flat. Should I discard those?

Steve, I do cut off infected leaves on plants. The swiss chard had leaf miner on almost every leaf so there wasn't much of it left. I think with that organic spray that I have, I think it's called Jack something, and covering it, I may be able to grow it.

If I do a little more research and work a little harder, I should be able to grow year round for 2 households. But I need to start with improving my soil. This year I bought compost but it didn't seem to make much of a difference in my raised bed.

Mary

you can feel if the seeds are empty or if you can pinch them and they seem empty discard those. the other thing to do is when you dry the seeds down completely you can pick them up and drop them and hear the difference between the empty and full ones. also there is the winnowing process where you can drop them and use a fan to blow the empty seeds further away than the full ones.

don't worry, if you run out of seeds i still have almost a quart of them from last year.

as far as compost and soil community building, it is a investment in the future when you add compost to any garden. the soil community takes a while to break things down and turn that into plant food, so you are investing in future fertility when you are adding good quality compost to a garden. the general problem i think is that you rarely know exactly what you are getting in terms of nutrients and quality in compost. that is why i appreciate my worm buckets and all the food and paper scraps i can get them to process for me. i am thinking three years ahead for my gardens and how i rotate the various types of plants through them. i rarely throw away anything that can be turned into compost.

diseases don't bother me as much as they do other people. we just had the greenhouse guy out for a visit (the first time he'd ever been here and we've known him for nearly 20 years). he looked at the tomato plants and said they're fine as i have a tolerance for how they look - he said he wouldn't change a thing i'm doing since i am getting a good crop from them as i am going. we picked almost 90lbs of tomatoes this morning and there's at least that many more out there for the next picking. i'll be busy putting those up tonight.

now i'm heading out to pick beans until my body can't do any more. the temperature is perfect out there and nice breeze. ah...

 

[Zeedman]

I had leaf miner troubles on both beet greens and Swiss chard, it discouraged me for awhile to even try growing them anymore. But I've since stopped that problem by watering all the time, lots of water too. If they are really moist, and never dry out, they don't get the miners.

An interesting theory. That would certainly explain our success with greens this year, given our heavier than normal summer rainfall. Some things benefited from the excess moisture... yin-yang exemplified.

 

[heirloomgal]

S

An interesting theory. That would certainly explain our success with greens this year, given our heavier than normal summer rainfall. Some things benefited from the excess moisture... yin-yang exemplified.

Spoke once with a greenhouse operator about a phenomenon he observed (and me too) about how plants 'cry' in a certain sense in stress conditions, like drought. Bugs hear it/feel it/detect it and gravitate. I think most leafy crops have high water needs, especially in hot weather, given transpiration (sp.?) So being dry is a dinner bell. But also, from a whole different angle, is the cellular perspective. Keeping hydrated is especially important to reduce bug mouth parts being able penetrate, like poking a balloon fully inflated vs. less so. Aphids in particular need low cellular pressure as they have mouth parts that don't suck but depend on the force of sap from a stressed plant to push through.