What Are Your Garden Tricks?

[Harley59]

Mint of any sort will take over your garden, your lawn, and any other bit of soil. Your best bet is to put it in a planter and make sure it doesn't sneak out the holes in the bottom. It spreads by the roots and it is supposed to be next to impossible to weed out. I have heard that if you hate your neighbours spread mint seeds over their driveway before it gets the asphalt on it, mint doesn't care.

Today I spent the afternoon on my seeds for the garden I have been saving egg shells to use as starter pots. So with a lot of help from CT I got soil from the composter and mixed it into some old potting soil that got tossed by our neighbours. Sifting it and using a paper funnel, I filled them and planted Basil and Catnip. I have some Jiffy pucks that I re-hydrated and planted Peas. I planted some store bought and some that I harvested a couple of years ago. CT and I love fresh peas and I know how to freeze them for winter eating, so I'm trying to get an extra planting.

I really should have started this in Feb but at least I'm getting it together this year. We will be getting more things done and may even get some pics later in the year.

I have been volunteering at our local Habitat Restore and the prices for things cannot be beat. I have gotten a reel mower and the jiffy pucks for 1/2 the retail price and that is before the volunteer discount. The place is dangerous as heck for my wallet.

Harley

 

[Easy Rider]

In my old backyard I had a plum tree and my 98lb Doberman. As most people with big dogs knows, with a big dog comes big poops. Right next to my plum tree I installed the largest doggie doolie I could find. To make a long story short, my plum tree had the biggest and sweetest plums. I never could come to terms of eating one but my neighbor who cleaned my back yard for free sold them at the local farmers market and said everyone raved how they were the best plums ever. True story!

 

[Harley59]

Getting at it again today I'll have to get CT to post some pics of the cold frame that he made me. Have planted seeds indoors to get a jump on the season. We have put a thermometer inside and I will check the temp tomorrow morning to see what it gets down to. I will post some pics of my starter pods.
One of the things I'm doing today is reclaiming the sidewalk, if we don't do it at least yearly we won't have any left. Vancouver has a very aggressive eco system. If you don't keep moving you will get grown over.

 

[CTripps]

...i'll have to get ct to post some pics of the cold frame that he made...

Ta-da, the $2 cold frame:



Measures 2 feet wide by 30 inches long.. front is 10" tall, back is 18" tall.. It was limited by the size of the clear plexi I had to work with. The sides are made of black plastic that I got from a local retailer that was throwing them out.. they were the sheets between layers on a pallet of jugs of windshield wash fluid or something similar, 42" x 48", around 3/16" thick. The wood is all reclaimed from junk cleaned out from under the porch when the neighbours moved out. The 2 hinges and hasp latch cost a whole $2 at the Habitat Restore.

 

[xseler]

I had a friend give me an old patio door with 2 full size glass sliders. Gonna make a cold frame outa them. Won't be ready for this Spring, but I do plan to utilize them for some late Fall, early Winter salad greens.

 

[CTripps]

I had a friend give me an old patio door with 2 full size glass sliders. Gonna make a cold frame outa them. Won't be ready for this Spring, but I do plan to utilize them for some late Fall, early Winter salad greens.

Nice, they'll work well. The other big factor for us is that we rent, so whatever we come up with, it's got to be movable and/or can't have a big impact on the property.

 

[MEASURE TWICE]

To add to my garden of Valencia Oranges, Blueberries of a few different varieties, Hybrid Thorn-less Blackberries, Mint, Spearmint, Parsley, some old perennial bulbs of Daffodils and a few month ago planted Tulip bulbs, I was trying to grow onion sets. The onions died and I got warranty from OSH and exchange for a jumbo pack 6 ea Celery. The ones more in the Sun are just taking off really great! Nothing so far has attacked them, so I hope they can be harvested in a few months.

All my plants are in containers, but I know the mint leaves can generate a new plant just by touching the soil I think. The blackberry plant when its branch touches the soil of another container puts down roots and starts another whole plant. You have to watch out for this.

The parsley plant did get really big and go to seed and I harvested seed and have them dried and generated more plants. Some did it on there own on the soil beneath bushes outside my patio, but they always get mowed down by the gardeners.

MT

 

[MEASURE TWICE]

The orange tree is doing good. Another plant I felt was about to die, was a small thorn-less blackberry hybrid I already have a few others of. The others are 20 plus years old and were not doing well so I got another to start out again. It just started light green leaves and a lady bug was checking it out.

The good bugs in the garden!

MT

 

[Harley59]

All my plants are in containers, but I know the mint leaves can generate a new plant just by touching the soil I think. The blackberry plant when its branch touches the soil of another container puts down roots and starts another whole plant. You have to watch out for this.

MT

Not only the plants but the birds will eat the berries and sh** them all over the neighbourhood so be warned.

 

[Rump Rocket]

The orange tree is doing good. Another plant I felt was about to die, was a small thorn-less blackberry hybrid I already have a few others of. The others are 20 plus years old and were not doing well so I got another to start out again. It just started light green leaves and a lady bug was checking it out.

The good bugs in the garden!

MT

Nice orange tree, what kind is it..

 

[MEASURE TWICE]

Tree I had for think 4 years now in the container swapped from 3 gallon to a half wine barrel for this Valencia Dwarf Orange.

There are so many other other trees that the birds like so there is mess but mostly not nearby.

Harley, I can remember being on a canoe trip in MN long time ago. We I understand paddled into Canada on a few places the lake took us.

An island with lots of over picked blueberries made it tough to get a lot. I think all were gone when we left. Some stained the bottom of the tent.

A couple of years ago the plants did quite nice and I got almost a gallon during a season. Not an Imperial Gallon, but still that is a lot for a small patio.

There is next to no maintenance for the perennials and it is just fertilize and water. Bugs eat some, I east most!

MT

http://motorbicycling.com/showthread.php?t=31531&page=4 post 36 has pics

 

[DDbike]

here is some nice kale just come in ... planted it in early March ....

 

[DDbike]

and more kale of another type .... purple Russian ...

 

[MEASURE TWICE]

Those are taking off quite nice. All my plants are in pots so they can't do quite as well, but its nice to try. The only edibles this year that are not perennials is the 6 pack of celery I started about a month back. It was a replacement warranty plant from the hardware stores nursery. A flowering plant that did not make it I got equivalent costing plant in return. I grow spearmint and lemon mint and parsley and they are good for year after year. Even save the seeds and have more parsley starting as the big plant after 2 years after 1st seed is now dead. I guess that's OK the seeds keep it going.

MT

 

[MEASURE TWICE]

Some of my recent harvest. I suspect I may have to pick the rest of the oranges before September.

I used to think that they stay best on the tree, but they I suspect all have a lot of juice already and waiting maybe the wrong thing and they get thick skin.

That I understand happens by the moisture in the fruit moves to the skin and the oranges then are dry. I don't want to waste them like that.

MT

 

[scotto-]

Some of my recent harvest. I suspect I may have to pick the rest of the oranges before September.

I used to think that they stay best on the tree, but they I suspect all have a lot of juice already and waiting maybe the wrong thing and they get thick skin.

That I understand happens by the moisture in the fruit moves to the skin and the oranges then are dry. I don't want to waste them like that.

MT

You use an abalone shell and a Swiss Army knife to ripen blueberries........that's a good garden trick Duly noted

 

[scotto-]

My best garden trick is for ripening avocados. I place unripe avos in a brown paper bag, fart in the bag and one hour later they become ripe!

This also give's them a buttery bacon flavor if you do this after breakfast

 

[DDbike]

Some of my recent harvest. I suspect I may have to pick the rest of the oranges before September.

I used to think that they stay best on the tree, but they I suspect all have a lot of juice already and waiting maybe the wrong thing and they get thick skin.

That I understand happens by the moisture in the fruit moves to the skin and the oranges then are dry. I don't want to waste them like that.

MT

If I had nice oranges like that I would preserve them as fermented Kombuchua. A wonderful drink which I have made. After the fermenting period you could super ferment them by adding juice a second time. You would have orange beer full of living organism ... good for the belly (1 percent alcohol)

 

[MEASURE TWICE]

Picture of orange tree with next year ripening crop. Just changing of color green to yellow. Later to orange color, but still won't be ripe till softens by late spring to summer. Blueberry plant leaves also turning color now. The orange I took the zest and juice from were store bought, I only get around 30 oranges a year. The turkey on rotisserie with that flavor only got to the surface. Maybe I should get one of those injector contraptions, or marinate for a while next time.

 

[MEASURE TWICE]

More color changing for the blueberry leaves before they fall off.