Raised Bed Gardening

WDH · August 03, 2010, 09:01:52 AM

Quote from: ErikC on August 03, 2010, 12:59:06 AM
WDH, For blazing heat and no rain, I recommend a sprinkler ;D

I have a well, so I have to be judicious with supplemental watering because I cannot risk running out of water, otherwise the woman would leave me (I have learned that the #1 stressor to a marriage is no water, but that is another thread some day). Plus, supplemental watering keeps things alive but not maximally productive. We are managing to do OK in spite of the climatic expression. I am still getting a little squash, tomatoes, bell peppers, and okra. The cucumbers are burned up history.

DanG · August 04, 2010, 12:04:35 AM

Quote from: WDH on August 03, 2010, 09:01:52 AM
(I have learned that the #1 stressor to a marriage is no water, but that is another thread some day).

I'll be looking forward to that thread! ;D

Jeff · August 04, 2010, 12:12:43 AM

I'm thinking its not no water, but perhaps broken water.

WDH · August 04, 2010, 07:59:03 AM

When the water is broke, that is the same as no water, at least while it is broke

.

Folks on city or county water may not realize how much you can take good reliable water for granted. I grew up on a dug well (there is another thread on here somewhere about that), then as a young adult, I moved to a place so far off the road that we had to drill a deep well. I am still there (here).

Jeff · August 04, 2010, 10:26:58 AM

Well, today many of the leaves on the squash are dieing and falling off, exposing some of the 6-8" diameter blossoms, that also just drop off. I think its to wet. The soil is terribly wet and its been so hot and humid.

We probably take water for granted here. If you look at an aerial view of our place, you see we have lakes everywhere, and for a well, you don't have to seek out a vein as Harrison sits above a huge aquifer. Anywhere you drill, you will hit water. Just depends on weather your on a hill or in a valley on how deep the well will be. Right here its about 85 feet. Some areas its 30 feet and other over 200.

Patty · August 04, 2010, 05:12:10 PM

We have a good well also, and the water is cold and tastes great. However the problem with a well, is that when the electricity is off, the pump doesn't work and you don't get water. That is an awful feeling. A few years back we lost power for about a week in the middle of winter. The worst part wasn't the cold or the ice or no lights, the worse part was no water. :-\ By the time they turned our power back on, I was ready to kill for a shower!

WDH · August 04, 2010, 10:21:32 PM

Quote from: Patty on August 04, 2010, 05:12:10 PM
The worst part wasn't the cold or the ice or no lights, the worse part was no water. :-\ By the time they turned our power back on, I was ready to kill for a shower!

I make my case........

.

ErikC · August 06, 2010, 08:56:58 PM

No water is definitely a problem causer, here as well. We have a gravity run system, and if there is no water coming down I am out there fixing it pronto. :D

SwampDonkey · August 12, 2010, 09:08:01 PM

I seen Jeff's squash plants and there was a lack of female flowers except just a couple that were still in bud form. Shade is also a factor I believe as his yard is almost forest. ;D

I always get yellowing of plants in August, it's just the way it is. I have not ventured down to the garden today and it's now dark. Just got back home at 6:30 tonight. If I get a dozen off mine, it's a bumper crop as 1 fella can only eat so much. ;D

I expect to see a lot of peppers and much of everything else ready to pick. :D

SwampDonkey · August 13, 2010, 06:07:42 AM

Pics a bowl of veggies this morning. Cuke, 2 bells, 6 jalapenos and 8 cherry tomatoes. I have to get down again when the dew dries up to harvest some lettuce, peas and beans.

Some good.

SwampDonkey · August 20, 2010, 07:25:05 AM

Well the dry weather and 80+ heat up here (more than 30 days worth) has had an effect on the garden. Anything that isn't a root crop is dying off. Doesn't look like the squash made it and the cukes are pathetic short fat buggers. I also think there is a little blight. It's been pretty dry for a month.

WDH · August 20, 2010, 11:27:00 PM

My garden is a heat blasted shock zone, gone for another year.

WH_Conley · August 21, 2010, 12:06:05 AM

Nothing made it through he last flood we had, 2 of them this year. An acre completely cooked.

Mooseherder · August 22, 2010, 09:43:41 PM

We got back home last night from camp.
It was a 3 day ride. My daughter pulled the pineapple and put it in the fridge a few days ago.
I'm glad she did cause it was ripe and sweet.
Got about a fourth of the meat you get with a regular pineapple.

SwampDonkey · August 23, 2010, 04:29:56 AM

Looks mighty tasty. You going into pineapple business? ;) Do they grow any in south Florida I wonder? Any we get in stores up here are Costa Rica.

How's things at camp?

SwampDonkey · June 12, 2011, 05:20:31 PM

Quote from: Roxie on April 17, 2010, 04:17:20 PM

Please pardon the interuption, but this looks like a good place to ask....we got one of those Hav-A-Hart traps trying to catch a ground hog.

:D :D Was just outside to toss some fruit peelings and there was a brave old ground hog out there nibbling away. He wasn't scared neither. I think I surprised him and he was standing his ground, being far from his hole and such. He chattered and ground his teeth to act brave. Tossed a pineapple top at'm. Didn't like that so much, but he didn't run off. So I said to'm I got something that'll ~~change your thinking~~ cool you off! I grabbed a pale of rain water and tossed that on'm. That moved him a might quick. If I would have had a shovel handy that would'a finished the show down, but the shovels are in the shed. :

A good firm thunk on the noggin does them in quick.

Roxie · June 12, 2011, 07:46:41 PM

They sure can be aggressive! :D

We had to give up on the Hav-A-Hart trap and resort to good old snap-their-neck-so- hard-it-flings-them-outta-the-hole traps. Got both of them within four hours. We gave them to a neighbor who uses the meat for stew. Problem solved.

SwampDonkey · June 16, 2011, 07:53:53 PM

2011 Edition ;)

This year I mulched the borders with red cedar and underlayed some black fabric. I need some more mulch some day and to deal with the grass around the frames. I've put down 25 - 2 ft³ sacs already. The frames are 4'x8', and in between each is about a 3 foot space. The mulch is roughly 3 feet wide around the outside as well.

The peas are all up down below, planted earlier than the beans which are just coming up now.

Tomatoes, peppers, lettuce planted last weekend from sets, but several rows of romaine from seed.

Spanish onions......mmm onions and carrots, beats, and spinach.
==========================================
Some back yard plants...wiggelia, and stripe maple. ;)

White oak from NH, from Uncle Percey's camp 25 years ago.

Red peone, orange poppy, yellow iris, and various begonia in the pot. ;D

Mooseherder · June 16, 2011, 08:23:02 PM

Looking Good SD, nice work

I'm taking the season off. :D

Jeff · June 16, 2011, 10:58:23 PM

I took this year off too. I found out that with the newly repaired arm, I can not lean into my garden area, brace myself and still do anything. Next year.