OT: The Gardening Thread

[French Collection]

1 hour ago, New Scotland (NS) said:

Dude ...

 

Wow, I haven’t thought of that place in years.

Maybe global warming is a thing.

[Ogre]

13 hours ago, ubkev said:

@ubkev food bank donation! I'll take 4. They'll get eaten. I promise! ?

There are six out here in our hay field. Two mothers and four fawns. Soon after this pic we had two bucks to the North in our little orchard having a big D contest. 
 I’m not eligible for the nuisance permits as I don’t make profit from my produce. 
 There isn’t much more that I can legally do and they are literally doubling in number. 

[ubkev]

11 hours ago, Ogre said:

There are six out here in our hay field. Two mothers and four fawns. Soon after this pic we had two bucks to the North in our little orchard having a big D contest. 
 I’m not eligible for the nuisance permits as I don’t make profit from my produce. 
 There isn’t much more that I can legally do and they are literally doubling in number. 

Have you tried driving out there and laying on the horn? They should suicide themselves right into the vehicle, no?

[Ogre]

7 hours ago, ubkev said:

Have you tried driving out there and laying on the horn? They should suicide themselves right into the vehicle, no?

But then my vehicle would be all smashed up.

Another problem with them is they run into the road and ruin people’s cars and drive insurance rates up. 
 

This is one of the babies blindly running out into the road on the crest of a hill that people drive pretty fast on. Out here in the country a speed limit is a suggestion.

[ubkev]

Just now, Ogre said:

But then my vehicle would be all smashed up.

Another problem with them is they run into the road and ruin people’s cars and drive insurance rates up. 
 

This is one of the babies blindly running out into the road on the crest of a hill that people drive pretty fast on. Out here in the country a speed limit is a suggestion.

Yeah, man. Deer ***** suck! It's part of the reason I love eating them so much. Some people see Bambi. I see a damn annoying pest that deserves to be on my plate!

[Sabres Fan in NS]

NS loves Bambi.

Edited June 30, 2020 by New Scotland (NS)
and not to eat her ...

[Ogre]

So I’ve shared photos of my gardening successes. Let’s look at some lesser results. 
 

The first 14 fruit trees that I planted were doing well but one evening while pulling into the driveway I noticed they all looked weird. Upon further inspection I noticed that one of the bucks had stripped the bark from them with his antlers. I saw red! If I could have found the culprit I would have choked it to death with my bare hands.

Mrs. iT found a product that was supposed to seal them up. I have two left from the original 14 as most were damaged too badly. Very costly mistake. Now I have them wrapped before the bucks want to rub. This is one of the survivors.

[Ogre]

Of the fourteen, twelve were replaced. The newbies were doing soooo good up until the gypsy moth explosion. It’s really bad here in Bristol Mtn area. The only thing we can do is go out with a cup of soapy water and pick them off. They’ve really messed with the apple and cherry trees. Eating the leaves completely off. They grow back(cause I water with 100+ gallons every two days religiously) and they eat them all off again! Mother *****!

[SwampD]

17 minutes ago, ubkev said:

Yeah, man. Deer ***** suck! It's part of the reason I love eating them so much. Some people see Bambi. I see a damn annoying pest that deserves to be on my plate!

Bambi chili.

 

Deeeeelicious.

[Ogre]

And this is my faithful little dwarf peach tree. It’s been good for 30 or so peaches every year but this spring it got leaf curl fungus as did the rest of the peach trees but this guy got it the worst. Absolutely nothing you can do about it either. Water with love and hope it springs back.

[ubkev]

4 minutes ago, SwampD said:

Bambi chili.

 

Deeeeelicious.

Yessir!

[Ogre]

These pumpkins sprouted up in this well digested compost pile from last year. I was going to use it but decided to let these guys grow. 
 

The second is how I get a hot pile started to begin with. Our town has free mulch that they load up with a bobcat the last Saturday of every summer month. I just bury our home compost in it and it will reduce to about the size of the other pile. 
 

They say a ten foot pile will get hot enough to cook any seeds it contains but the pumpkins went in the pile late and it obviously wasn’t hot enough anymore. 
 

Think I’ll get more mulch and start a fresh pile toward fall.

[Ogre]

Just a couple more. 
 

The habanero spray worked but wasn’t effective. Once they got the taste for spice they were all in so I put up a fence with some old fishing line. I watched from the deck as they tried to figure out what magic was keeping them from the sunflowers. 
 

They just moved on to the heirloom popcorn so I spent the day doing PT, then weeding and building a higher fishing line fence around the popcorn. 
 

So far I’m losing far less than last year. 
 

It would be nice to eat some popcorn this year.

[Ogre]

And the last one.

I helped my neighbor load out an old maple tree that he had had cut down. I took a few of the bigger hunks home and chainsawed a hole straight through one to use as a planter. My wife planted a clematis and I welded up a big ass trellis for it....Uhhh...not big enough. 
 

[ubkev]

Speaking of trellis'. I needed something for my cucumbers to climb up and I didn't feel like buying one. I grabbed 2 old tomato cages, snipped them open with the bolt cutters and bam! Mini trellis. The cucumbers are climbing it nicely. If they need some more room I might throw a couple 6 foot steaks in and run some strings across them.

[Indabuff]

17 hours ago, Ogre said:

So I’ve shared photos of my gardening successes. Let’s look at some lesser results. 
 

The first 14 fruit trees that I planted were doing well but one evening while pulling into the driveway I noticed they all looked weird. Upon further inspection I noticed that one of the bucks had stripped the bark from them with his antlers. I saw red! If I could have found the culprit I would have choked it to death with my bare hands.

Mrs. iT found a product that was supposed to seal them up. I have two left from the original 14 as most were damaged too badly. Very costly mistake. Now I have them wrapped before the bucks want to rub. This is one of the survivors.

Not sure if mentioned but many people growing stone fruit trees just make cages.  Post and wire fencing.

[Ogre]

11 hours ago, Indabuff said:

Not sure if mentioned but many people growing stone fruit trees just make cages.  Post and wire fencing.

I knew I had to wrap them before winter, we lost hundreds of bare root trees to the deer eating them up. Late September seemed safe. I guess I never expected a buck rub.
 

Anyways I considered using some leftover drainage pipe to protect the newer ones but I have to wrap anything below 7’ with wire anyways so wait until late August and wrap the entire tree with a 7’ fence. 

[Ogre]

We are having a serious rainfall deficit for it being so early in the summer. These shots tell the tale. 
 

These guys who aren’t playing like I am and are relying on results for profits are screwed. Scorched corn. Three inch tall soybeans. These guys spend $10G or more to fit a field. 

No rain in the forecast either.
 

 

[Ogre]

I’m hauling 300 gallons of water to the property every day. The well has struggled to supply the house so I shut off the pump and just fill my holding tank in the basement with whatever is left over from watering. 
 

If I were not off work rehabbing this shoulder then my gardens would be screwed. Hauling water is an investment in time and lots of wear and tear on equipment. 

My heart goes out to these folks that rely on it for income.

[Ogre]

The raised beds hold the moisture much better and are overall waaaaaay less work.

[ubkev]

Cucumbers are coming in nicely. I've got jalapeños for days. Tomato plants each have about 5 or 6 maters on em. I've got 3 zucchini growing nicely on one plant and my other zucchini plant is recovering nicely from a heavy pruning (tons of new flowers!) And my bell peppers are finally starting to pop out. It's almost time.

[Sabres Fan in NS]

Today is hot.  I will be venturing into the jungle to clear some paths and trails before it gets too hot.  Wish me luck ...

[Indabuff]

I bought some potted tropical plants (standard issue Lowes/Home Depot) for the backyard which I'll bring in for the winter.  I decided to try my hand at a rooted plumeria cutting.  I bought the turd online.  Anyone have experience with the genus?

[Sabres Fan in NS]

13 hours ago, Indabuff said:

I bought some potted tropical plants (standard issue Lowes/Home Depot) for the backyard which I'll bring in for the winter.  I decided to try my hand at a rooted plumeria cutting.  I bought the turd online.  Anyone have experience with the genus?

I never have any success growing turds.  Sorry.

[hsif]

I harvested all the softneck garlic and am now drying/curing it....... and just started pulling the hardneck out of the ground to dry/cure. 

The question I have for experienced gardeners is...... I've now got a 15' by 20' piece of dirt where the garlic was. Is there a crop I could plant now that would do well into the fall? Zone 6 Rochester. Potatoes? Cabbage? This weekend, I did buy a couple of the "magnum" tomato plants and put them in the garlic garden, more or less as an experiment to see how much they will produce going into the ground this late in the growing season.