How does your garden grow?

[rareboy]

In defense of many, many hard-working, smart gardeners, it's not always an equation of laziness vs. not. Many gardeners have plots that would be impossible to turn by spade and hoe alone, but are able to disc or till the acreage and have much greater yield than that which would come from a small plot. My great-grandmother hired a neighbor to disc up about an acre or two each year, and she then plowed it with a push-plow and wheel.

She hoed it each day by hand, and I presume occasionally watered it, if rarely. She continued doing this through her lifetime, not stopping until she was 85 or 87. She canned all she could.

There wasn't a lazy bone in her body. But she knew the importance of putting back food against hard times. And she was widowed for over three decades, so had no help to keep that garden.

It's unfair to impugn tillers. People prefer what they prefer.

Whereas it's true that seeds near the surface will sprout, they are quicly dessicated in the loose soil by light hoeing.

And, anyone who tills usually rakes the clumps and weeds to minimize regrowth, not to mention mulches, often with leaves or straw.

Trust me. My father was a lazy gardener.

 

[NotHardUp1]

I do trust you to be right about people you know. It's only that the connotation was that use of a tiller constituted laziness.

 

[Kahaih]

Trust me. My father was a lazy gardener.

Amish approved

Amazon.com

 

[NotHardUp1]

Amish approved

Amazon.com

Respectfully, as a Mastergardener, I have seen that "easy" solution cause many problems by unlearned gardeners. It is particularly problematic when used indiscriminately, often underlaying entire border beds and/or foundation plantins, effectively starving roots of rainfall.

Although technically porous, they are invariably used under heavy mulching of various kinds. In all but the heaviest rainfalls, the rain absorbs into the mulch and doesn't go much deeper. Add to that the potential for rain to more readily follow the barrier, even underground, to its edges, and it creates dry subsoil, stressing, if not killing, shrubs and plants.

Recently, I saw it used on a church's numerous foundation plantings, almost all of which were on slopes. Even the evergreens were suffering on the edge of failure. Unless the intended site use is drip irrigated, or otherwise constantly watered, I just don't think it is as good as touted.

I also heard the same sentiments 30 years ago from a native plant advocate nurseryman who saw similar usage errors with it.

I will say it is less odious if being used between rows in row cropping, instead of landscaping where it tend to be entire, with x-cuts to plant through.

 

[Kahaih]

/\ Yeah, I would only suggest using it on top of the soil in large vegetable gardens.

Also: The product posted isn't necessarily the best, just a starting/consideration point.

 

[NotHardUp1]

I finally finished reviving two beds out front, set six cryptomeria in between some dubious lacecap hydrangeas, and accented the bed with a bracelet of annual lantanas.

In the second bed, a stand of native ferns already flanks a point filled with a crape myrtle, and I expanded the bed, tilling it where two butterfly bushes died this winter, planting red vinca minor, and more lantanas, and rudbeckia that looked more like blanket flower. It was bought last week, and was so root bound, I had to score the root ball to ensure it would grow new roots. It drooped slightly, but temporary loss.

 

[rareboy]

Wow.

When my back was turned, the beets became the size of turnips.

The lettuce is like a hedge but hasn't bolted.

Tomatoes coming on and since I've pulled the beets they can sprawl all over.

And this week the beans start. And because we have beez, there are millions of them.

I will also dig the first new fingerling potatoes soon.

Besides growing all this stuff in the old barnyard that had a 1 foot layer of manure...I must give credit to:

And of course, after a very dry start (5 weeks where I had to truck water), our weather.

 

[me203]

And this week the beans start. And because we have beez, there are millions of them.

Overabundance of green beans is one memory I have of the gardens we had when I was growing up. There would be a period when beans showed up every night at dinner.

I think my mother made some effort to try freezing, but it didn't work well for her. So it was pretty much eat the beans fresh, and maybe give the surplus away.

Although zucchini was a more problematic crop. I'd bet there were days I'd see zucchini somehow used all three meals, plus a snack.

I just realized that I don't eat green beans that often, now. I wonder if I got totally burned out as a child? Or some memory lingers of the garden beans being better than commerically frozen beans lingers on some deep level?

 

[me203]

This year, I ended up growing a tomato plant in a pot. There are a few--very few--green tomatoes growing on it. I expect that it will end up being one of those cases that you hear people joke about--spend $$$$ to save $ at the grocery store. Although I didn't expect much more than maybe a few tomatoes--the plant is more about just having one.

 

[Alistair]

Overabundance of green beans is one memory I have of the gardens we had when I was growing up. There would be a period when beans showed up every night at dinner.

I think my mother made some effort to try freezing, but it didn't work well for her. So it was pretty much eat the beans fresh, and maybe give the surplus away.

Although zucchini was a more problematic crop. I'd bet there were days I'd see zucchini somehow used all three meals, plus a snack.

I just realized that I don't eat green beans that often, now. I wonder if I got totally burned out as a child? Or some memory lingers of the garden beans being better than commerically frozen beans lingers on some deep level?

That’s all the reason I hate green beans to this day. We had green beans lunch and dinner. And when they got big and tough the just got cooked to mush. If I eat green beans today they have to be thin French style and just a quick blanch.

 

[rareboy]

^That is how we'll start out this week.

Then the beans will start coming so fast and furious that I will be yanking off foot long beans and hurling them away. ( Or keeping them for seed).

 

[LoveMyPeppermill]

If people find zucchini to be entirely too productive, why don't they grow yellow crookneck squash instead?

Mmmmmm ...

 

[LoveMyPeppermill]

@rareboy, what are you going to do with all this agricultural bounty?

 

[me203]

If people find zucchini to be entirely too productive, why don't they grow yellow crookneck squash instead?

Mmmmmm ...

In my father's case, I think he might have liked how productive zucchini was. He had little patience for crops that didn't do as well. I can remember him trying tomatoes one year, and it didn't work well enough, so he never bothered trying again. Unfortunate, since tomatoes are vastly superior when they are from the garden, vs, the grocery store. I've sometimes thought that he probably could have tried again with better luck with a different tomato plant.

I was probably the one who found the zucchini the most tiresome. I didn't particularly like the stuff, although there were some things that I liked. I suppose my mother found it a bit tiresome finding ways of using zucchini three meals a day, although there were certain dishes that would show up each year during zucchini season (and only show up then), like ratatouille and--of course--zucchini bread.

 

[72-Jay]

Lets see... since the last time I posted in this thread back sometime in June...
The garden has taken another beating from another hailstorm.
A rabbit killed/ate the few bean plants that were left (too bad its so dangerous/illegal to shoot various little furry varmin in a neighborhood)
There was a few chard & lettuce plants. Was. Pretty sure the hail is what finished those off.

Yeah the tomatoes & various other plants are 'still there', but with the abuse they've taken, I don't expect much out of them

 

[72-Jay]

In my father's case, I think he might have liked how productive zucchini was.

Its one of things I like about zucchini

 

[metta]

I have been slowly making my yard more drought tolerant. My original garden was long grasses with wildflowers and trees, etc. But the drought restrictions made it too hard to maintain so I have been working on making it a lot more drought tolerant. This year, I finished removing all the grass in my front yard and turned it into a drought tolerant perennial butterfly garden. I removed half of my grass in the backyard this year as well. I used decomposed granite there with a huge hammock.

For a little yard I have quite a few trees: sequoias, California pepper, lemon, lime, Santa Rosa plumb, peaches, orange trees, avocado, kumquats, and Asian pears.
I used to also have a coral tree and weeping willow tree, but I got rid of those to cut down on maintenance. They are beautiful trees, but it was just too much for me to maintain on my own.

The only veggies I have right now are tomatoes.

 

[rareboy]

@rareboy, what are you going to do with all this agricultural bounty?

We have frozen most of the beets and will make Borscht to freeze as well.

As for the rest? Everyone who comes to visit ends up taking home whatever there is too much of for the next month.

 

[Dargelos]

Outfront we have a gardenette the size of a 8x4 plywood sheet. There is a tree, it has branches and leaves and stuff. Down below there are flowers, blue ones, yellow ones, lots of purple, a little white. We have never done a thing to it, Mother Nature takes care of everything, the birds and the bees seem happy.
The fashionable word for this is rewilding, a more honest word is neglect. Far better than some of the other houses in the street who are installing plastic grass

 

[LoveMyPeppermill]

For a little yard I have quite a few trees: sequoias, California pepper, lemon, lime, Santa Rosa plumb, peaches, orange trees, avocado, kumquats, and Asian pears.

Do they produce fruit, and, if so, how is it?