sd white/non-white midwestern thread topic of the day (garden)

[sys]

raked up last fall's leaves from my 15x30 mint plot, this year's crop smells delicious

what a delightful feeling.  i'm happy for you.

[Stat_Cat]

So I've got a nice little 4x4 compost area.  I've been filling with table fruits and veggies, grass clippings and leaves, everything that's supposed to be in there.  I've been kinda turning it, but really need to mix it up good, it wasn't steaming like its supposed to.  I just went out and dug down to the middle and it was a steamy hot mess!  Nice and earthy looking!  Never thought I would get so pumped to see a giant pile of compost steam!

[cDubya]

So I've got a nice little 4x4 compost area.  I've been filling with table fruits and veggies, grass clippings and leaves, everything that's supposed to be in there.  I've been kinda turning it, but really need to mix it up good, it wasn't steaming like its supposed to.  I just went out and dug down to the middle and it was a steamy hot mess!  Nice and earthy looking! Never thought I would get so pumped to see a giant pile of compost steam!

Take it to the KU Football is hurting thread.

[ben ji]

Garden update!

Last year I planted some beans in pots then set them next to the fence to climb. They did awesome until about my middle of june when all of them shriveled up and died. I'm guessing the pots couldn't hold enough moisture for them so I decided to sow them directly into the ground this year.

I made a trench along the fence line then filled it up with dirt from my compost pile, planted the pre sprouted seeds then topped it off with some miracle grow potting soil. Hoping for some better luck this year.



The perennials in the front yard are just starting to bloom


Same in the backyard







Anyone know what kind of bush this is? Looks awesome every spring when it blooms bright pink/red


Spinach/Kale/Lettuce is coming along nicely


The strawberry plants, eh, not so much but I wont give up on them yet.


And this.....This is where the magic happens, the compost pile.

[CNS]

That Bush is an azalea.

[kslim]

 Lettuce Rosemary and onions are going off everything else has just started sprouting

[puniraptor]

i havent planted anything yet, am i going to get banned?

[sys]

the strawberries will limp along the first year (or die if you don't take care of them), but then try to take over the world in years two and three.

[star seed 7]

so i've got 3 tulips in the front of my new place (there before i moved in).  they had bloomed out pretty great and then all this rain happened and now they are all laying on the ground and look dead as crap.  will they come back or did my gardening season only last 2 weeks?

[ben ji]

so i've got 3 tulips in the front of my new place (there before i moved in).  they had bloomed out pretty great and then all this rain happened and now they are all laying on the ground and look dead as crap.  will they come back or did my gardening season only last 2 weeks?

That's tulips for you.

[CNS]

Yep.  Don't cut the leaves this summer.  Leave them so they can get sun.  Buy, yeah, tulips, more like two days.

[ben ji]

Did I mention that I just planted some ASPARAGUS PLANTS TODAY?!?!? (Mary Washington variety)

I bought a 5 pack of roots at home depot as an impulse buy. I read a couple articles online and made a new "Asparagus Bed" and planted them up. Bad news is I am going to have to wait like 2 years before I get sweet succulent asparagus shoots on the reg. 

[Tobias]

how much kale do you grow

[Stat_Cat]

I planted two packs of Kale, WAY WAY to much, I planned on thinning it out, and ended up having to.  I left what I didn't have space for though and it's actually flourishing pretty good.  I'm planning on picking it when it gets big enough for salads, in about a week or so.  Then letting the stuff I thinned out grow to the larger size.

What type of beans did you plant?  I had some green beans I was going to put into a pot, but if it's going to do the same, I may find another location...

[Cire]

Rabbits ate one of my tomato plants

[ben ji]

I planted two packs of Kale, WAY WAY to much, I planned on thinning it out, and ended up having to.  I left what I didn't have space for though and it's actually flourishing pretty good.  I'm planning on picking it when it gets big enough for salads, in about a week or so.  Then letting the stuff I thinned out grow to the larger size.

What type of beans did you plant?  I had some green beans I was going to put into a pot, but if it's going to do the same, I may find another location...

I alternated sugar snap peas and string beans along the fence line, put them down every foot or so. Last year both bean varieties grew like crazy for a month or 2 but withered and died once it started to get hot.

In regards to Kale....I planted some last year and it got freaking huge, like inch/2 inch wide stalk at the base. In the fall I ripped out all the stalks and threw them in my compost pile...but apparently I missed some roots. When I was turning over my garden last spring I noticed a kale root was sprouting so I let it be and sure enough I'm getting some tiny kale leafs coming off it.

I grew 4 Kale plants last year and that was plenty, when they get huge in late summer(3/4 ft tall) they have tons of leaves you can harvest. Once the stalk is established you can harvest the leaf's and new ones will grow right back. The leaf's are not as delicious as the late spring leaf's but they are still tasty.

[HerrSonntag]

The perennials in the front yard are just starting to bloom

Hey Ben ji old pal, since we're friends i thought i'd give you a heads up that those wooden garden partitions are basically termite factories.  You need to get stone in there ASAP!

And stick it out with the strawberries, the first year is rough but it gets easier after that.

[ben ji]

The perennials in the front yard are just starting to bloom

Hey Ben ji old pal, since we're friends i thought i'd give you a heads up that those wooden garden partitions are basically termite factories.  You need to get stone in there ASAP!

And stick it out with the strawberries, the first year is rough but it gets easier after that.

Yup. My little bro installed those when we were thinking about selling the house a couple years ago and they are already un even and tearing apart.

I will probably wait until fall when they discount the crap out of landscaping rocks then replace them.

[HerrSonntag]

The perennials in the front yard are just starting to bloom

Hey Ben ji old pal, since we're friends i thought i'd give you a heads up that those wooden garden partitions are basically termite factories.  You need to get stone in there ASAP!

And stick it out with the strawberries, the first year is rough but it gets easier after that.

Yup. My little bro installed those when we were thinking about selling the house a couple years ago and they are already un even and tearing apart.

I will probably wait until fall when they discount the crap out of landscaping rocks then replace them.

When i bought my house, the lady who owned it before kept the place very well manicured and had those beams everywhere.  My buddies all told me to get rid of them because they are termite condominiums but i kinda brushed it off with a "Eh, they look pretty new, i bet they're fine"

Well, one day, i was trying to maneuver a trailer up my drive and dropped a tire right on one of the beams, splitting it in two.   The horror therein was hard to describe but the interior of the beam resembled swiss cheese.  The same day i pulled all of it up to find that there must have been hundreds of termites living in all of them 

Needless to say i burned them all with fire.

[The Big Train]

 

[CNS]

Our house had some when we moved in.  We live in woods.  Anyway, got them treated and the guy said if you live near woods in NE KS,  you will always be near them.  Only need to set up a barrier around the house.  Sucks though, because he recommends against using mulch.  We have a bunch of lava rock, that I despise.
Anyway, long story, but this last weekend we found what looked like a long bald caterpillar.   About as big around as my index finger and about 4" long.   My kid ID'ed it as a termite queen.  Google it and sure enough.   Stuff of nightmares.

[pissclams]

pro tip- don't google termite queen

[Tobias]

people pay thousands to get at some idiot queen out wandering around?

[ben ji]

Co worker's wife sells seedlings at a farmers market so he brought me in a whole flat.

Couple of different varieties of lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers and LEEKS! Super pumped about the leeks.

[puniraptor]

Do these mushrooms that I grew on this hay (straw) bale look edible?