Look - this gardening area is going to have to get a lot more active!!!!

[T-Bird]

I just mail ordered $140 worth of seeds!!!


I'm going to need help and support and hand holding to get through this. I know it is late in the season.....some greens for the fall, hope for some late summery weather for a few crops, and be right there ready to start up the seedling in March 10! The bug bit me HARD, what can I say? I want to sell the house, quit the job and buy a hobby farm. :D:D

Yes - I have also order Rodales illustrated.

I am also going to get
The Winter Harvest Handbook: Year Round Vegetable Production Using Deep Organic Techniques and Unheated Greenhouses (Paperback)

Fall project - building a greenhouse????

It could happen peeps!


But I'm going to need support! This place has been really dead lately.


Wake up People!!?:eek:

OK - sorry - back to bed.....no hurry, they're still in transit:o

[DebB]

My husband tossed together 5 garden boxes this. It's been years since we've had a garden and I'm just loving it!

Next year I want to start most everything from seed inside...

I see you're from Chicago ~ I'm from NW of Chicago, a little town called McHenry (by Crystal Lake, Woodstock...) have you heard of it? We've been in WA State for over 20 years now - but my family's all still back in Illinois.

Just today I was noticing little zucchini about 2 inches long. I'm so excited! Our cukes are blooming too, tomatoes are setting - everything's really doing well.

We're composting too and used a lot of compost in the garden boxes. I've got so many vounteer tomatoes and cantelope coming up. I hate to pull them!

I can feel your excitement - and a green house, sigh - that would be great! *Ü*

[Ilse W.]

I hope you got heirloom seeds (no hybrids) so that you don't have to spend that kind of money every year. Get yourself a book on saving seeds. Have fun! Don't sell the house just yet. Make sure you still like gardening next year.:D

[iwuvmydoggy]

you may also want to check out gardenweb's seed & plant swapping area, as well as plantswap.net. you can trade in heirloom seeds & plants only & build up a nice collection.. only thing it'll cost is postage or some seeds/plants of your own. :) i do both frequently & love it! :) they also have fun things like monthly seed drawings and holiday stuff. :)

[T-Bird]

Next year I want to start most everything from seed inside...

It seems I usually get excited about it all late may/june - when it's too late, lol!
Next year - March!! Got to!


I hope you got heirloom seeds (no hybrids) so that you don't have to spend that kind of money every year.

I tried to get mostly heirlooms, they were at least all organic.


you may also want to check out gardenweb's seed & plant swapping area, as well as plantswap.net.

Cool! Thanks for the tip, will check it out!

[kaybee]

would love to know if you end up building your own greenhouse. at the moment i am trying to find someone to sell me a quarter acre, since 4 of my beds got FLATTENED last week...the man who owns the place i was gardening decided to cut down some trees, and slammed his trees down all over four of my beds....kale, peas, calendula, loads of herbs, and loads of baby herbs, cress, mallow, all sorts of stuff, all flattened, including my fencing :( so im about done using other peoples land... if i do manage to get my hands on some, im wondering about a homemade greenhouse. they are about 2500 EURO here otherwise! and we cant grow basil, peppers, cukes etc without one :(

I would prioritize things that will get you through the winter and get them started right away, like KALE. also get your hands on some chickweed seed and get that going for the fall/winter as well. ive heard it will live through snow but not really sure. it grows SO abundantly though. corn salad apparently also grows t hrough snow and likes low light low temperature, so keep that in mind for fall planting. your parsley i think will live through a frost too, though not through the whole winter, but maybe with protection it will. best way ive found to start parsley (flat leaf; dont like curly kind) is to soak seed in warm water overnight, then get it to germinate in soil in one of those lidded plastic containers like you get strawberries or salad mix in. i had no luck getting it to germinate in the greenhouse in trays, but maybe it was just bad seed. basil, too, you will probably give a head-start to by starting it in a warmer place like one of those strawberry trays, in a warm window. my dad plants several acres in massachusetts and always plants his basil from small plants that have been started in a greenhouse, instead of direct seeding. holy basil is supposed to tolerate less warm temps.

If you want quick greens, quick, i would plant a ton of turnip seed, fairly thickly spread. this will give you some greens in a few weeks and you can keep picking leaves off them most of the season! also, things like mustard grow quick, and nasturtiam, and chervil seems to grow quick as well and is yummy :)
oh and BASIL! its getting a bit late for it but if you can get it to grow, it rocks for pesto (and another plug for chickweed- u can make pesto out of that too!).

what other seeds do you have so we can better advise you?

[T-Bird]

also get your hands on some chickweed seed and get that going for the fall/winter as well. ive heard it will live through snow but not really sure. it grows SO abundantly though.

Apparently too abundantly! selling the seeds isn't too commercial, lol! Rose mountain herbs have some, guess I'm shopping again.....

[T-Bird]

so what did I buy?

Well I already have some seedlings going

1 pumpkin
tomatoes
brocolli
beets
Carrots
green beans

waiting for sprouting action from
watermelon
lambquarters
zuchini
celery

been 3 weeks - may give up the ghost on those, lol! But today - a new carrot popped up - so all is not lost!

I bought about everything!

cukes
spinach
lettuces
arugula
kale
cabbage? can't remember....
endive
sorel
Purslane??
marigold
turnips
parsnipa
corn
basil
cilantro
parsley
peppers hot and sweet
chamomile
fennel
sage
stevia

[kaybee]

before you buy the chickweed, see if you can find some in someones yard. saves you paying for the seeds and if you dig some up and plant it it will spread like mad. its REALLY forgiving. it does seem to really like the partial shadier areas of the yard.

wow i think you should have gotten some "action out of youre zucchini seeds by now. usually squash and zucch sprout pretty quickly. but i had bad germination with mine this year too. NONE of them came up. none of my basil seed from last year from that company came up either. although my 3 year old non org basil seed from botanical interests did...im not buying from the other comp again! if youre going to replant, maybe try the zucch in a sunny window inside first. although maybe its hot in chicago by now. if your zucch seed is dead, its worth buying more. it grows fast and it will reward you with abundant zucchs for spaghetti as well as the male flowers which you can stuff and eat.

celery takes forever. need patience with that one. ive seen some BEAUTIFUL celery both outside and in greenhouses here but all mine ended up in the compost even after growing for 8 months in the greenhouse. just didnt work out well...stringy, bitter... hope u have better luck!

lambsquarters i think are amaranth....i have red amaranth planted in the tunnel and its been slow to sprout. the 2 years i DID get it to grow well it was beautiful, but its tiny thus far and ive had to replant it already once...


Stevia i have heard is difficult to get to germinate. i think maybe try somewhere REALLY warm. thats what ive been told at least. i dont know if it will grow well outside..maybe its warm enough in the summer in chicago though? its not in ireland. ive tried to get some to germinate but right now its sitting in the greenhouse without my attention because i cant bear to face the destroyed garden right now...

spinach you might want to save for late summer/early fall; it will bolt in heat

is your marigold calendula? if it is, its edible. its an annual but may reseed itself so put it in a place you want it to grow for more than one year.

i was told by an organic farmer that "cilantro likes company" so to plant 20-30 seeds per foot in a three inch band or something like that.

fennel supposedly gives off some sort of substance that inhibits the growth of other plants, so maybe find this one its own corner?

[Colorawdo girl]

hmmmmm..think the peeps are out in the garden.....doing stuff

[T-Bird]

Well - put together the bed, looks a bit primitive, but then it is!

Poured in all my stuff - didn't even fill a 1/3 of it!!!! Sheesh! And it was so much work, I lugged 35-50 pound items from A to B all day - my back was killing me, and yet - so much more to do!


Yesterday - took my seedlings out for a fieldtrip. They loved the sun. let them saty out about 1-2 hours.

Took them out today- went shopping, and they were totaled! 1/2 or more destroyed.......

would a squirel do this? I can't imagine! if they were eaten up - ok - but just dug up, or ruined - every pot?

They were on a table too - was it a critter or some nasty neighbor child? I don't have any fences, and was away....

Very sad here peeps! Very sad!

If I can't leave seedlings on a table for 2 hours.....how will I manage a whole garden plot?

:(

[lynnc72]

Oh so sorry about your seedlings.

I'm usually not good with starting from seeds, but I had good results with this:
http://www.gardeners.com/Seedstarting-System/SeedstartingKits_Cat,35-657,default,cp.html

I got 2 of these very sturdy containers. I just transplanted my first seedlings grown in this container into the garden this past weekend. They grew bigger, faster in this container than they did in anything else I've used in the past.

Anyways I thought I'd share my excitement on finally being able to grow from seeds for the first time. The dome cover prevent birds and critters from destroying young seedlings.

[kaybee]

i cant offer any advice, just solidarity t-bird... a few weeks ago alot of my garden got flattened by a man fellign trees. i was still excited about the 15 squashs plants i had to plant...welll... i went to see them the other day and almost all are dead. the slugs devoured them, and some of them i didnt "harden off" properly. and the slugs ate the rest basically. the only ones partly protecgted were the ones absolutelty surrounded by piles of seaweed. slugs dont like the salt. but some still got munched. all my spaghetti squash, pretty much all the butternut and some of the zucchini... then today i go to the other garden plot and they have started on my kale, even though it was surrounded by seaweed, and they have eaten the peas to the ground and are munching on the mustard and greens that are coming up... and most of the lettuce in the outside beds is destroyed too. do y ou have slugs? it only takes one or two to DECIMATE.

BUT. if it IS slugs, or snails, the good thing is that you have a raised bed (i dont). if you get copper wire/tape/pipiing and run it all the way around the bottom of your raised bed, they dont liek to cross it, they get a shock from it, so they will stay off.

ive also had rats get the munchies on my sunflower greens. destroyed them. but slugs is my first bet. i dont know about squireels cuz ive never seen a squirrel in ireland; i dont know if they have them here

sometimes BIRDS will do a job on young seedlings too.
but slugs is still my first bet for the culprit. i have to keep eating stuff that is slug reissitant. CHICKWEED, seaweed, linden tree leaves. nettles. plantain. MINT lemon balm. parsley after it gets big
alot of plants are slugfood when they are tiny but when they get bigger the slugs leave them alone

oh wait i just reread...i guess its not slugs. if they are like uprooted or whateve.r yeah maybe squirrels. or CROWS. there are alot of problems with crows here digging up potatoes etc, just sprouted stuff, etc. could it be crows? netting will help if its birds. if its squireels, no idea.

[T-Bird]

Thanks Kaybee....

I've got mainly tomatoes and greenbeens left, just a few of my beets and carrots and brocolli left - I think another pumpkin might be pushing through - hope so - definitely too late to start that from a seed now! Watermelons have 2. Still keeping them indoors for safety and trying to get a strategy.

Have received my Rodale book.

This weekend is a crampy period weekend, so no progress this time around! 5 months at 100% - I was hoping I'd be done with cramping - maybe next month!

Here's to both of us developing a decent garden before fall hits!

[RaeVynn]

We just had a lovely salad, all picked from our little raised bed garden!

Baby spinach leaves, heirloom lettuce, some arugula leaves, a few young beets (mostly greens), a couple of bunching onions, a few tiny kale leaves, and some chives blossoms... all chopped up, served with pine nut mayo and a few raw olives. :p

Yummy!

[T-Bird]

sounds great!

I am quite a while away from any harvesting...

[Lavendula]

I know the loss feels great when you are just starting to garden, but it's not too late. I see you are in Chitown, I am about 50 miles from O-Hare, Northwest suburbs, and I'm getting a late start this year. There are many things you can still plant, and some things you can plant in late July, for a late harvest. Any effort you make will be rewarded. I have been working on reclaiming my garden, from the year of Canadian Thistle, one box at a time. I have only lived here 9 years, and still haven't mastered Midwest gardening. I will try to support you, though. I have been a gardening fool this past month. If you are not really in the city, but closer to me, I might be able to give you better help in person, if you can see what I'm doing, or not doing. Everyone needs some inspiration. My friend calls me garden sage, and calls my garden hotline often. I still have things popping up, my climbing spinache, and my Moonflower, i saw today. I'll check back soon, I think.

[T-Bird]

Thanks lavendula,

I am in the city!

I still have whats left in the kitch - but must plant them this weekend. They are making no progress in the kitchen.....

I'll have to go through and see what is doable for this short season left I've got...

[T-Bird]

OK - I've finally gotten over my sorrow for the lost seedlings, and am looking into what can be accomplished with what is left of the growing season!:(

Hope I can get it together next year, lol!!!!


Anywho - I went out and planted a few seed directly in the ground in one corner of the bed that actually has dirt in it. 2 hills of cukes and 2 of pickles. covered them with clear plastic containers cut in half to protect them from the marauding hordes - of children or pests- I do not know.

Am dropping DD off at a party and will pick up some 15 bags of soil and some other stuff - will bury my compost stuff, and harvest 2 trays of wheatgrass and put the spent mats in there too.

Depressingly, I calculated about 1K+ spent trying to be a veggies gardener over the past 5 years, ......and only a harvest of mint to show for it!

Oh well - practice makes perfect! and then I'll have 50-60 years of harvesting to make up for it! Maybe more!

Cheers to all you intrepid gardens out there!!! We will prevail!

[kaybee]

hey it MIGHT still be worth starting zucchini again from seed. they grow pretty fast and are productive

well i went to my other garden space and the slugs had eaten all 20 or so of my seedlings i had just put down.... spaghetti squash, butternut, and zucchini... :( maybe this is a message that im just supposed to eat wild stuff and/or stuff the slugs dont like? that means seaweed, linden tree leaves, chickweed, plantain, nettles, calendula, sorrel, red clover. HAHAHA. i catn GET any more zucchini seed. i have one or two survivors, lets see if they continue to survive. slugs are evil. this week i have found them on the back of my toilet seat, climbing up my bathroom wall and in the sink munching on carrot peelings, in addition to the many snails that come in the windows and dehydrate themselves to death eating wallpaper.... there are no screens on the windows here, lol

[T-Bird]

Sounds like a real invasion, Kaybee!

Call out the slug unit of the National Guards.....they are TRAINED for just such an infestation!:)

[kaybee]

well...in the greenhouse, the "slug unit of the national guard" consists of the man who owns it putting down chemical slug pellets EVERYWHERE.... ugh. really, you have to go out and pick them off if you want to do it without the slug pellets. you have to go out at night and i dont live near there. i tried beer traps last summer and didnt catch a single slug!

[T-Bird]

sounds like you need somebody/thing that feasts on slugs.....


Slugs and Snails question: What eats slugs? Lizards, spiders, snakes, raccoons, little kids, and they are a delicacy in many countries.

[jane b]

I preplant just about everything in newspaper pots that I keep in wire baskets (Antonius) from Ikea. Each basket holds 30 pots, so I have good idea at any given time of how many plants come up. Plus I can write on the pot what variety I've planted.

Take the entire basket and drop it into a small mortar tub from Home Depot filled half way with rainwater. Stays in there until the pots are nice and soggy, then drain and repeat with other baskets.

When you go to plant, just pull the bottom of the pot open. Newspaper acts as a collar to slow down nasties, too. Lets me plant according to the moon regardless of the weather, since I can do this inside (and have).

I have a huge garden, and am always expanding it.

[kaybee]

i think hedgehogs eat slugs. i dont know how to attract them though. the onlyl time i see them is dead in the road :( i met a couchsurfer who helped me with my garden who said he ate slugs when he was in ?slovenia or somewhre.... im vegan though, i dont wanna eat them, lol. ACTUALLY, i had the idea to borrow a friends chickens and ducks to use on the newly turned soil, but they were afraid we wouldnt be able to catch them again. if i had my own place and was settling down i would have my own ducks. they could eat slugs in my garden (with supervision so they dont eat the plants too!) and they could give me eggs to feed my veggie dog :) oh yeah there are no snakes in ireland (st patrick banished them? dunno if the legend is true but there rreally are no snakes here! no raccoons, and im not aware of any lizards either. i wonder if we have frogs and toads. . ive never seen them either. wow ireland is so much less diverse in wildlife than the states...except it makes up for it by having five billion varieities of slugs.. there is even a "kerry black slug" or somethign that supposedly is found only here in county kerry!

[RaeVynn]

We put a 3" band of copper around the outside of our garden to deter slugs.

It's actually copper flashing from the local home builder's store... slugs won't cross copper.
The challenge is keeping the foliage from drooping down on the outside and providing a bridge for the critters.

[RaeVynn]

Duplicate.

[kaybee]

yeah coopper. i keep forgetting about that. once i get my own garden ill invest but right now the garden is so spread out that its impossible to afford copper to go aroud it. i woudl put it in my greehouse entranceways though, thats for sure.