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Tildes Gardening Group: Week 30/3/26
Welcome all to our weekly (ish) gardening group discussion!
Feel free to discuss anything related to gardening, beginner or advanced, challenge or success.
‘Seed’ questions?
- How long have you been gardening?
- What’s the best pearl you have learnt?
- What are you worried about happening this year?
- When in the season do you enjoy gardening most?
The new fruit trees are planted! With much thanks to my siblings and dad for helping dig because I very quickly came to the realization that it was beyond my physical capacity at this point (pregnant). Glad they are in the ground because it is a big chore done and good timing since we are supposed to get a lot of rain this week.
I have been gardening for maybe 10 years? Unsure at this point. And I don’t know if this is a pearl but the best thing I have learned gardening is that every year is a new learning opportunity. Some things work, others fail, and we learn from the failings for the next year. My biggest worry this year is that I am really going to be very out of commission and my mom will get overwhelmed. It is humbling that I am not able to be one of the primary workers of the property, and was pretty frustrating. I don’t like watching other people work when I am not. My favorite phase of the garden is when the lettuces are being harvested at the start of summer. I love getting daily lettuce, the growth of the other plants isn’t wild yet, there isn’t the stress of the main harvest and the dreaded processing but I am still enjoying food from the garden.
I’m super jealous of your Granny Smith! How big is it and how long do you think before it starts producing? When we bought this property there were already mature pear trees, but I don’t like pears. I really want to cut them down and grow apple in their place, but they produce so well that I loathe to end their lives.
It is probably about 5 feet tall right now. We will nip the buds for at least the first year, maybe the first 2 years depending on how quickly it establishes before we let it fruit. I feel you though on being sad to cut down a good producing tree. We have a very old sweet cherry that is an amazing producer but is getting to the point where it might need to come down for safety reasons since and I keep delaying.
I haven’t got anything done since last week because life has got in the way, as has the weather.
I’ve been doing some gardening since about 2020 (Covid hobby!), but getting slightly more serious every time. I’m not sure I know any good pearls, I’m still quite basic in my approach to gardening. I guess I care more about making sure I don’t crowd seeds which was a beginners mistake of mine!
I guess this year I’m worried about pests which were a pain last year.
I think I enjoy the early growth or harvesting phase most. I don’t like the very beginning which is often frustrating as I procrastinate doing things…
What kind of pests are you experiencing?
None yet this year, but last year my main foes were:
There are plants you can grow that attract predatory insects! Coneflowers, dill, cilantro, yarrow, and sunflower are just a few. You can search for your area to learn what predators you’re trying to attract and what plants attract them to get a list more tailored to your garden. As far as slugs go, I hate those things with a passion. Every few years during the spring, I lay down sluggo, and then through the summer, hand pick the ones that survive it in the mornings and evenings until they are under control.
We also do sluggo in the spring, and then also have the beds lined with copper tape. One thing that additionally works is setting slug traps, which you can make by setting out small containers of beer (which attracts and then drowns them). We use cat food cans or any other small container like that.
This weekend I started rejuvenating my raised beds. Everything needs to be pulled out and replanted. I started with the bed that the strawberries will be moved to. They are all fairly new 4’x8’x3’ beds, so as expected, the soil has settled quite a bit. I got the first bed cleaned up, topped up, and ready for the strawberries which I’ll transplant next weekend. I also started some work in the perennial bed. Mostly just popping out the larger weeds. It’s still frosty overnight here so I’m not ready to cut things back in case the bugs living in them are still asleep
The rest of the property is begging me to get on top of things before the spring explosion. Besides the unrelenting blackberry, I also have a morning glory and Japanese knotweed problem. It took me 10 years to remove the Japanese knotweed from one side of a small ravine but I don’t have any way to remove it from the other side as the bank is too steep. It sits over there mocking me and laying down seed. I really don’t know what to do.
I have a humongous English laurel hedge that has naturalized on my property making a freaking laurel forest. Through the years I’ve managed to knock a lot of that back, but it’s one tenacious shrub/tree that keeps popping back up from the roots as well as reseeding. Last year I started laying down paths through the area so it’s easier to get at, and nurturing some western hemlock and cedar saplings I found. I hope to get another 30’ of trail through there. I plant natives and near natives to the sides of the trail as go. I have to do raised trails because so much of that area is wet. If anyone has suggestion for trails through wetlands, I’d love to hear them. Currently, I’ve just been putting in wood chips on top of branches. When I come to an area where water is flowing, I make sure to lay my branches down in the direction of the flow so as not to dam it.
For trails through wetlands depending on if you are willing to build them, we tend to make slightly raised walking paths from pressure treated wood. They aren’t true bridges, except over areas of running water, but keep the path up out of the soggy areas. Link of an example, the ones on our property look much less nice! https://bestofnj.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/SourlandMountainPreserve-29-1-e1497363324960.jpg
I’ve seen things like that in parks and whatnot. I’ve often thought of using pallets because I can get them for free. I wonder how long they would lay in the wet? It sure would be quicker than the way I’m doing it!
Even our super lazy ones where we have just thrown down an old 2x4 over a wet area have lasted decently. You just have to be careful of them getting slippery on the top if they are wet and start to get things growing on them.
@nukeman @vord @zenon @crialpaca @Aran @pistos @thecakeisalime @tyrny @pekt @rosco @dustylungs @lackofaname @neonbright @monarda @tanglisha @Esteebestee @mimic @Zenon @lynxy @monarda @gourd @sparksbet
(Let me know if you want me to stop pinging you!)
I'm mostly in wait mode for my SFG and a little future planning.
I'm doing some renovations around the house so my indoor grow lights for starting from seeds are all torn down, but as soon as I get that back together I'll be starting scotch bonnet and jalapeno plants for clay pots. I also 3d printed a full hydro tower for my back deck and I need to get back around to filling that with herbs once the grow lights are back up.
I need to start planning what will go in place of the broccoli once they've run their course, but I have no idea what to plant. I have a pollenator variety pack from Botanical Interests, so maybe I'll just put that in to help with all the tomatoes.