Gardening Thread 2012?

[jellybean325]

No one has started this yet?
I have tomatoes, okra, green beans, peppers, lots of herbs, squash, strawberries, and much more! So far, best year yet!!! Where is everyone? Did you give up after the past 2 years?

[jellybean325]

Okay....I'll start. As of this morning, I can see 11 tomatoes, 5 bell peppers, 1yellow squash ready to be picked and a bunch more that will be soon. Our container blueberries are rocking' this year as are my Meyer lemons. The okra look sickly. I planted peas at the wrong time of year, I was just told, and may get one serving out of it anyway! I've had about a pint of regular sized strawberries. They are usually small, but my plants have now matured enough to provide bigger ones. My herbs look great except for the dill, which I can't ever manage to keep alive. I'm trying potatoes, and they look great too. Zucchini and other squash except the yellow crookneck mentioned above looks sad.

[Momplus4]

First garden that has had success EVER.

I've got cherry tomotoes coming in. regular tomotos.

The rabbits enjoyed my spinach and lettuce.

Over planted squash and it took over...so I had to cull a bit - but have some yellow squash about ready to go.

Sweet pepper plant has a single pepper and more coming

Jalepeno is doing great....just starting to see some babies coming starting.

Watermelon plan is great

4 stalks of corn going nuts!

Green beans and peas - probably planted too late but they seem to be coming in.

Blue berry bush may not make it.

Last 3 attempts were total busts so this looks promising!

[jellybean325]

Did you use a planter for blueberries? I was told they would not grow in the ground here due to alkaline soil. You have to go north or east for areas that have appropriate soil. The guy from the feed store told me this. He also said to either water with rainwater or add cider vinegar to water to make it more acidic. We didn't get much the first year, got more the 2nd year, and it looks like we will get a lot more this year.

My green beans and peas are not looking great either. The squash in my Earthbox has elephant ear sized leaves. The ones in the ground are sad. I finally read up in determinate vs. indeterminate tomatoes and decided to trim off some lower branches that were creating a lot of shade and making things cramped inside the cage. It's already huge.

I'm hoping the good rain will help things along even though I water twice daily. Somehow Mother Nature seems to get more results when she waters'

[jellybean325]

Has anyone tried the Miracle Grow expanding soil? They have a display at the Home Depot on Eldorado and Tollway with one bed with 3 bags of regular potting soil vs. the same size bed with one bag of the MG expanding soil. There is a tomato plant in each planted on the same day - same size and some flowers. Watered the same as well. Amazing difference! I'm going to add some to front flower bed as nothing lives well there. It holds a lot of water.

[bizguy]

Originally Posted by jellybean325

Has anyone tried the Miracle Grow expanding soil? They have a display at the Home Depot on Eldorado and Tollway with one bed with 3 bags of regular potting soil vs. the same size bed with one bag of the MG expanding soil. There is a tomato plant in each planted on the same day - same size and some flowers. Watered the same as well. Amazing difference! I'm going to add some to front flower bed as nothing lives well there. It holds a lot of water.

Nope, I use a 1/3-1/3-1/3 mix of vermiculite, sphagnum peat, and compost.... holds lots of water too and much more affordable in large quantities...

[Momplus4]

Originally Posted by jellybean325

Did you use a planter for blueberries? I was told they would not grow in the ground here due to alkaline soil. You have to go north or east for areas that have appropriate soil. The guy from the feed store told me this. He also said to either water with rainwater or add cider vinegar to water to make it more acidic. We didn't get much the first year, got more the 2nd year, and it looks like we will get a lot more this year.

My green beans and peas are not looking great either. The squash in my Earthbox has elephant ear sized leaves. The ones in the ground are sad. I finally read up in determinate vs. indeterminate tomatoes and decided to trim off some lower branches that were creating a lot of shade and making things cramped inside the cage. It's already huge.

I'm hoping the good rain will help things along even though I water twice daily. Somehow Mother Nature seems to get more results when she waters'

Not watering much. Sqaush is HUGE. Tomatoes need to be trimmed. One plant is HUGE and the other two were overshadowed by the squash. Ripped out one of the squash plants and tomotoes doubled overnight.


Moved pepper plants to their own pots and they are taking off.

Didn't know that about blueberries. Good to know. I will grow in a pot next year. Will try to augment with vigegar this year.

[Hammer]

Originally Posted by bizguy

Nope, I use a 1/3-1/3-1/3 mix of vermiculite, sphagnum peat, and compost.... holds lots of water too and much more affordable in large quantities...

Where did you get your vermiculite?

[LLB]

Originally Posted by jellybean325

Has anyone tried the Miracle Grow expanding soil? They have a display at the Home Depot on Eldorado and Tollway with one bed with 3 bags of regular potting soil vs. the same size bed with one bag of the MG expanding soil. There is a tomato plant in each planted on the same day - same size and some flowers. Watered the same as well. Amazing difference! I'm going to add some to front flower bed as nothing lives well there. It holds a lot of water.

I used it in all my pots this year, all 15 of them and have never had better looking plants and flowers. I usually kill every plant I buy but this year my front porch and flowerbeds look incredible. I will be buying this Miracle Grow soil next year.

[jellybean325]

Originally Posted by LLB

I used it in all my pots this year, all 15 of them and have never had better looking plants and flowers. I usually kill every plant I buy but this year my front porch and flowerbeds look incredible. I will be buying this Miracle Grow soil next year.

Did you use the expand n grow version? I use vermiculite, pearlite, potting mix and other ingredients in my Earth boxes as directed by their website. I'm wondering if that is the combo (plus fertilizer) in the Miracle grow expand and grow. It was hard getting it all mixed up for the Earthbox size. I can't imagine how you would mix enough for a raised bed the size of ours. How do you mix big batches?

ETA: I used some Superthrive today on the sad plants. Has anyone had success with this?