So do you guys do any gardening?

WickedLou9 · 07-12-2007, 05:33 PM

For some reason I seem to find a new hobby and then go headlong into it for a while but eventually I get bored with it, until I find the next thing.
Anyway, the latest hobby is planting stuff, gardening, landscaping, blah.

The first project was putting in a sort of border along the front walkway and planting stuff in there. It turned out pretty good. Then I planted a few more things, then I started a garden outback to grow some vegetables and stuff.
Right now we are inundated with cucumbers. It seems like I am pulling 3 or 4 out of the garden every single day. They grow incredibly fast. We have been eating cucumber salad, putting cucumbers on salad, eating cucumbers with ranch dressing... i'm actually not sure if I want any more, but they keep on coming!
http://photos.gallinarofamily.com/im...5/IMG_1344.JPG

I have totaly over planted the garden too. THe tomato plants are like all intermeshed, the cucumber vines ( I planted 4 ) are starting to spread out over the basil, they are growing along the ground , along the fence, they are winding around eachother. It's ridiculous.
It's kind of fun and relaxing to come home after work and go out to the garden and see what has changed, how the tomatoes are coming along, how many cucumbers there are to pick, etc. I think in about a week I am going to have more tomatoes than I know what to do with.
The first ones to ripen are are the early girls. I have 2 of those plants. Then the big Beef steak tomatoes will come next, and finally the Ramapo's that I planted a few weeks late will be last.

I'll have to take some pictures of everything I guess

thomez · 07-12-2007, 09:10 PM

If I can remember, I'll take a picture of grandma and grandpa's garden.... they work in that stupid thing every day.

Grandpa is working on planting turnips, grandma has no idea why, neither of them even like turnips - but she had to call and order turnip seeds from a mail-order place and tonight grandpa was getting rows ready to plant them. They already have more cabbage than they know what to do with.

Those are some good looking cucumbers, I love cucumbers... yum.

IminWonderland · 07-12-2007, 10:38 PM

Wicked, with Cucumbers you need to vine them up onto something. My mom grew them, and she would put them up against trellis. They grow better that way too, not that you sound like you need help with that.

With the tomatoes, are you pruning the off putting branches? I have 5 plants at about 12-15" tall, and they have some nice little green bulbs on them. I expect red ones in about a month.

Are you pinching the flowers off your basil plant? If you want it to get into a big bush, that's apparently how you go about it. I can pick a hand ful of basil off my plant and it's only about 6".

I also have:

10 Carrots
15 beets
1 Green Bean Plant
1 Oregano
1 Basil
1 Artichoke plant that I am nursing back to health
4 Strawberry plants.

I am doing all of my garden in the front yard in what used to be flower beds. Everything I've put in is growing so far.

Do you use fertilizer? All I've used on mine are used coffee grounds and egg shells. i don't know why for either, it's what my Grandmother used to do and she had a pretty green thumb.

We are hoping to put a fruit tree in the front yard. I'm voting either Lemons or Avocados.

I'll post pics tomorrow, it's too dark right now.

WickedLou9 · 07-13-2007, 06:58 AM

Originally Posted by IminWonderland

Wicked, with Cucumbers you need to vine them up onto something. My mom grew them, and she would put them up against trellis. They grow better that way too, not that you sound like you need help with that.

With the tomatoes, are you pruning the off putting branches? I have 5 plants at about 12-15" tall, and they have some nice little green bulbs on them. I expect red ones in about a month.

Are you pinching the flowers off your basil plant? If you want it to get into a big bush, that's apparently how you go about it. I can pick a hand ful of basil off my plant and it's only about 6".

I also have:

10 Carrots
15 beets
1 Green Bean Plant
1 Oregano
1 Basil
1 Artichoke plant that I am nursing back to health
4 Strawberry plants.

I am doing all of my garden in the front yard in what used to be flower beds. Everything I've put in is growing so far.

Do you use fertilizer? All I've used on mine are used coffee grounds and egg shells. i don't know why for either, it's what my Grandmother used to do and she had a pretty green thumb.

We are hoping to put a fruit tree in the front yard. I'm voting either Lemons or Avocados.

I'll post pics tomorrow, it's too dark right now.

GOod stuff

Yeah I do have a small trellis, it's about 6 feet tall abd 4 feet wide, but the vines have totally overgrown that they grow up to the top and then down the side and then across to the fence and along the fence. It's crazy.

I try to pinch off the suckers on the tomatos but the way I planted them it's hard to reach. I'll do it better next year. The ones I have going are all atleast 3 feet tall, the beefsteak must be 4 feet. The early girls used to be taller but now they are laden down with tomatos so they are kinda bent over a bit. I do have them supported with some stakes but they aren't working very well.

I have been a little lazy with the basil about cutting off the flowers. I am doing it but not as often as I should.

For fertilizer not really. I bought some of that "worm poop" stuff and the garden soil we bought to enrich the soil had fertilizer in it.

I think in total I have 6 tomato plants, 10 or 12 carrots, 6 basil plants ( too many ), oregano, mint, one pepper plant, and 4 cucumber plants. This is the first year we have done this so next year I am going to do things differently.

Older pics of the garden here. it's much more overgrown now.
Online Photo Filer Photo Gallery

Publius · 07-13-2007, 09:39 AM

my parents gave me a tomato plant and two jalapeño plants ... the tomato plant was a miserable failure, only got two tomatoes and both had huge splits in them by the time I got them off the plant. And it's too hot now to grow any more.

One of the jalapeño plants has done fuck all, got maybe 4 or 5 peppers off it. But the other one has produced like 30 peppers already and still has at least a dozen developing buds left on it.

Publius · 07-13-2007, 10:10 AM

i cut my losses on the tomato plant and just trimmed it back to the main stalk last weekend. The plant had gotten taller than me if you held it straight up (and I'm about 5'10").

Linzyhop · 07-13-2007, 10:12 AM

Originally Posted by Publius

i cut my losses on the tomato plant and just trimmed it back to the main stalk last weekend. The plant had gotten taller than me if you held it straight up (and I'm about 5'10").

shorty.

Publius · 07-13-2007, 10:16 AM

Originally Posted by Linzyhop

shorty.

at least I'm not 5'6" like thomez.

Linzyhop · 07-13-2007, 10:17 AM

Originally Posted by Publius

at least I'm not 5'6" like thomez.

wow!

hobbit stature!

WickedLou9 · 07-13-2007, 10:31 AM

Originally Posted by Publius

my parents gave me a tomato plant and two jalapeño plants ... the tomato plant was a miserable failure, only got two tomatoes and both had huge splits in them by the time I got them off the plant. And it's too hot now to grow any more.

One of the jalapeño plants has done fuck all, got maybe 4 or 5 peppers off it. But the other one has produced like 30 peppers already and still has at least a dozen developing buds left on it.

Tomatos need alot of water. If they split as they are ripening it usually means that they didn't get enough water. I have a sprinkler setup to run twice a day for 15 minutes at a time and it waters the garden for me.

Another problem I ran into is called blossom end rot. It's the bottom of the tomato. It can look brown and sometimes they split. It can be the result of uneven watering or possibly a calcium deficieny in the soil.. sometimes it happens if they grow really fast early in the season and there is too much nitrogen in the soil. I had the problem with some of my plants so I added some calcium to the soil.

thomez · 07-13-2007, 11:15 AM

Originally Posted by Publius

at least I'm not 5'6" like thomez.

watch yourself asshole

Publius · 07-13-2007, 11:20 AM

Originally Posted by thomez

watch yourself asshole

Linzyhop · 07-13-2007, 11:28 AM

Originally Posted by thomez

watch yourself asshole

hear the air quality isn't as good down there...

thomez · 07-13-2007, 11:29 AM

Originally Posted by Linzyhop

hear the air quality isn't as good down there...

Linzyhop · 07-13-2007, 11:45 AM

Originally Posted by thomez

i'm just joshing little buddy.

hey, it sucks being 6ft tall. you're dating pool is drastically reduced!

ask Ballz, he's 5 '11 and just doesn't make the cut!

thomez · 07-13-2007, 11:51 AM

Originally Posted by Linzyhop

i'm just joshing little buddy.

hey, it sucks being 6ft tall. you're dating pool is drastically reduced!

ask Ballz, he's 5 '11 and just doesn't make the cut!

you don't have to tell me.... almost no guy wants to date a gal that is taller than her, few gals want to date guys that are shorter ... plus they often want to be shorter than you even with heels on, so that puts me looking for girls of about 5'4 and under

Publius · 07-13-2007, 11:52 AM

Originally Posted by thomez

you don't have to tell me.... almost no guy wants to date a gal that is taller than her, few gals want to date guys that are shorter ... plus they often want to be shorter than you even with heels on, so that puts me looking for girls of about 5'4 and under

I'm 5'10" and I have to admit, the shorter the girl is (to a point) the more attractive she is to me. The tallest girl I've ever dated was 5'3", the shortest was 4'9.5" (and demanded the .5" be noted).

Linzyhop · 07-13-2007, 12:37 PM

Originally Posted by Publius

I'm 5'10" and I have to admit, the shorter the girl is (to a point) the more attractive she is to me. The tallest girl I've ever dated was 5'3", the shortest was 4'9.5" (and demanded the .5" be noted).

the tallest was 5 "3"???

that's dwarf size right there. damn.

Roonie · 07-13-2007, 12:41 PM

Originally Posted by Linzyhop

the tallest was 5 "3"???

that's dwarf size right there. damn.

wow. I don't think I have met someone that small before. I am 6' 2" and I am the smallest in the family with my brother being 6' 5" with size 15 feet.

Linzyhop · 07-13-2007, 12:45 PM

Originally Posted by Roonie

wow. I don't think I have met someone that small before. I am 6' 2" and I am the smallest in the family with my brother being 6' 5" with size 15 feet.

i knew i liked you.