RUNuts 2018 Garden thread (attempt)

[RUNuts]

Baymule! I asked which ones tasted best? You showed me a bunch of stuff that pawpaw grew. Which ones do you grow? Why? I was little when I was eating those and don't remember which ones did what. I do remember I liked the hamhocks floating in the pot and playing with the big pig bones. I'm going to call Grandma and ask her.

So will sunflowers survive and be used as a trellis for the peas? Or will they get covered and smothered? Got the Mammoth single head sunflower packet here. Looks like I could plant the whole 10'x10' back garden and just have peas all over the yard. The kids don't believe me when I tell them how big the pumpkin vines get. LOL They will learn.

 

[seedcorn]

Grew up calling them black eyed peas vs shelling peas vs snow peas vs snap peas vs........

I resent that remark as I do not give anyone a hard time but spend a great amount of time trying to educate certain southerners to the correct way to do things. I’m all about giving. ‘‘Tis the season.

 

[RUNuts]

Good Morning! If you give someone a hard time and they don't appreciate it, who's at fault? You for giving or them for resenting? LOL

I called Grandma. Cleared things right up too. Purple hull peas, whatever kind the farm supply store has. Simple. The farm supply store has a rack of seed peas. Use the scoop and buy by the pound. Guess I'll go check them out and ask for reviews.

Crazy Lady saw me playing with seed packets and said she wanted green beans. Done. Silly me for over thinking and not asking her first.

Grandma also said to plant the onions in January and peas in March. She lives way up north around Shreveport, so I'll have to do some research for around here. Purple hulls are ready for picking when the hulls turn purple. Shell them and dry them. QED.

Can I use sunflowers as trellises?

 

[digitS']

Sunflowers are supposed to be allelopathic plants in that they are toxic to other plants growing close to them. I grow quite a few sunflowers each year and sorta see that with the weeds. Of course, they are large plants and suppress weeds by depriving them of light.

Other gardeners report using sunflowers to support vines ... don't know.

I don't know about Southern peas, either. Hey! if those peas at the feed store are untreated ~ be sure you absolutely know first ~ you could try them on the stove. Or, a store may have a bulk food section with some in bins.

It's fairly easy for me to grow Alaska peas, a variety of English shell pea . The mature seed is smooth, indicating that it is starchy. Wrinkled seed has a higher sugar content, we are told. Anyway, the Alaska varieties can be used for split pea soup, if that is of interest.

We have some very good bean and pea TEG gardeners. They know so much about these things - that I can hardly imagine! RU, if you have that interest, there are probably varieties and species that are entirely outside of the experience of all but a fraction of North American gardeners that they could guide you with.

Steve

 

[RUNuts]

Yes, I saw the bean thread and then put off starting to read since it was so long. Right now, I desire easy.

I checked the front flower bed and the tomatoes (uncovered through the last 4 days of frosts) are greening up. (?!?) These tomatoes were planted in July as 3" seedling and grew 1/2" if that the last 6 months. Several of them died. Got 2 groups (same starter cups) that are getting serious and looking better. They are heavily mulched and I guess was protected? South side of a south facing house. Maybe the house brick kept them warm. See how the weather treats them. The one that took off (cherry tomato) and was covered got several areas of frost damage, but mostly survived.

Front flower bed - south front of house. Intention is to use edible ornamentals and perennial herbs. Crazy Lady mad because the basil did better than her flowers.
Butternut - just started to grow and at 18" length, appears killed by frost. Planted in August
Cucumber - seeded in September as a what if. one hanging in, no frost damage. 3" maybe.
Rosemary, parsley and sage - no change. Seedlings from store. Rosemary started well. Parsley has started growing since cool weather. Sage not doing much, but not dead.
Basil - frost got all of it. The one thing that took off. Several seeded, so I'm expecting a LOT of volunteers.
Cabbages - Son's girl friend got a flat of extra seedlings. Stuck in the ground and all doing well. These guys are doing better than I thought after receiving a dried out flat of leggy seedlings.
Tomatoes - still here. Still close to the size from last July.

I got the newly shredded wood chips from the dump. Spread on front flower bed that has been sorely neglected. 6' tall waxleaf ligustrums were cut back to ground. Purple bushes had died. Instead of rehabbing, just cut off. 2 wax leaf's are sprouting from stumps. Plan to keep them small.

Not sure what was killing the bushes. Neglect? Landscape cloth pulled up and the old mulch was pretty much composted. That was the spring project between rain storms.

 

[flowerbug]

i always figure out the drainage situation when starting a garden. it is much easier to grade, haul, fill, trench, etc. before doing any other hardscape projects.

for clay soils here because we can have some flash floods i raise up an area by digging down and putting extra organic materials down there. gives extra drainage, places for worms to hide when it gets too hot or too cold and eventually gets dug up again and used as garden humus.

cover crops, fast: buckwheat, radish, turnips, annual flax, field peas, any sweet peas, soybeans. in the fall winter wheat and winter rye both do great for breaking up the soil with their roots, turning them under in the spring several weeks before planting other things. soil will be like butter when you plant. for more drainage improvement over the longer haul: alfalfa, chop it a few times and let the worms have at it. takes a few years to get established before you really want to start chopping it too much. i use the choppings for extra N as a green manure in gardens. i've never had to fertilize beyond using the worms and such green manures and cover crops.

might need to mound some plantings if you get heavy rains, but it can make watering during dry spells a challenge. i make a mound along a row and then hollow it out a little to capture at least some of the water that falls.

every year can be different, plant diversity, accept that some things won't make it, don't bother with sprays or potions, poisons shouldn't be needed if you have a functioning ecosystem. and again, some things just won't go well, don't sweat it, just move on, plant something else, it's been very rare here that radishes or turnips won't grow, same for buckwheat.

strawberries can be work, but i love 'em so don't mind the work at all. they'll cover an area pretty well. after a few years, turn them under and plant something else.

 

[baymule]

You don't have to trellis purple hull peas. They grow in a tangle, but they don't really climb.

For you, fall/winter crops are broccoli, cabbage, green onions (can be found in bundles at feed stores in early fall or spring) cauliflower, greens of all kinds, lettuce, and carrots.

Tomatoes, squash, cucumbers and basil like warm weather. They may go dormant in the hottest part of the summer, then start back up when it cools off a little. Or they just die when it gets so blasted hot. You can probably plant in mid March.

These were picked at our old house in Livingston on 2-13-2014

 

[RUNuts]

Good evening!
How does the purple broccoli taste? Same as the green?
Yes, I've got one cabbage going whole hog. The others are pacing themselves. I planted that one on the edge of the woodchips. Hmmm. The ones in the front are in 2" wood chips and are doing well, but not that well.

If I fertilize, I've read the cabbage is bitter? Will cooking mellow that? Or just too much? The parrots like the cabbage.

And there are electrical line tree trimmers in the neighborhood. Yes, I might get a couple of trucks of trimmings. Since these are fresh, I'll have to pile them and use them over the year. Parrot coop and yard. Top dressing and mulch in the front beds. How many wheel barrow loads in a truck? I'll have to make a pile in the drive and haul it to the back. Not preferred, but saves the time to the dump and back. Anything I should look at when selecting wood chip pile site? I'm thinking low spot.

With the leaves still on the trees, the pile may heat up. I've got a dose of coop cleaning that will turbo charge it.

I'm looking at the cabbage and remembering how many times Mom tried to get us kids to eat it. We never would. Smelled terrible. I just finished a big bowl of stir fried cabbage and chicken pieces. Mmmm! Onions and scrambled egg on top. Life is good. Love you and miss you Mom!

Zucchini partially survived. Still have 1 fruit each on 2 plants. I'm hopeful! Cucumbers I think are gone. One is a maybe. Butternut gone. Fun experiment. Come on February!

 

[baymule]

The purple was cauliflower and it made a beautiful salad with broccoli and carrots. You can plant potatoes in mid February.

 

[RUNuts]

Where do you get Moringa from that you would recommend? Local nursery has it for more than I'd like to pay. Between the heavy clay and the salty tap water, I have no clue what to expect. The joys of living in a coastal flood plain!