OA 2015 garden thread

[Seth]

I'd never heard of them either until this year. He said he got the seeds from Gurneys online. Here is a link with info on the big rainbow tomatoes.
http://www.gurneys.com/product/big_rainbow_tomato/Tomatoes

German Queens
http://bonnieplants.com/product/german-queen-heirloom-tomato/

We pick up a few of the mortgage lifters and german queens later in May from Walmart. I know some don't care for Bonnie plants, but we've had decent luck growing for them. Big red heirlooms are our favorite so that is all we plant. I think we do a cherry this year too.

[ness]

If you haven't picked out a cherry yet, my hands down favorite cherry is Sun Gold. Not an heirloom, but the best tasting cherry I've ever had. Kinda sweet/tart like a citrus fruit. Very prolific indeterminate plants. They're fairly easy to find.

[Seth]

Thanks for the recommendation. I'll see if I can find one of those.

[Johnsfolly]

One of my favorite heirloom tomatoes is the purple cherokee. We worked last weekend on the garden. We use raised beds, but nothing as elaborate as BH's. Ness I will have to keep a look out for the Sun gold cherries. In the summer hwne the tomatoes are ripening, I'm at a disadvantage since the kids get home before I do and pick the nearly ripe fruit. Many summers you won't find a fully ripe tomato on our vines because of the early pickers. At least our kids know where their food comes from. We did have to explain that beets and carrots come from the ground to one of the neighborhood kids.

We do have a resident prairie kingsnake in one of the beds. I caught it last week, escorted it out of our yard, and it turned up again yesterday. I guess we will have to find a way to get my wife and daughter acclimated to the snake, so they don't jump everytime they see it. I'm pretty happy about it, since we have only had garter and ribbon snakes around. I like the variety. It could be that the garters and ribbon snakes are what drew this kingsnake to the property. I don't know what else this snake may eat. So any information would be appreciated from some of the herpes guys on this thread.

I saw several feral cat issues being brought up on this thread. I find that a live trap and a .22 sedative works really well on those guys. We are fortunate to live in a neighborhood that people love to release their unwanted kittens. So there is no shortage of feral cats. Our dog can't stand them in the yard, I fear for our chickens, some summers you can't walk outside without being covered in fleas, and the whole family has been treated twice now for pinworms.

[jdmidwest]

Your kingsnake is looking for small mammals or birds. While they are known to eat other snakes, they love mice. I kept a prairie kingsnake in the dorm room while in college and fed him pinkie mice.

How large is it? Young black rat snakes look almost the same when young, they darken with age and turn black. If I remember right, you have to look at the pattern on the belly scales to determine which is which. Adult black rat snakes have a pattern on their back if you look close enough.

Feral cats carry all kinds of disease, and are hell on baby rabbits, birds, and other critters in your yard that are more fun to watch. I am blessed with 2 nesting pairs of doves, several robin nests, bluejay, and even a cardinal in the pines by the swing. My trees I planted 16 years ago are making nice nesting sites. Probably some hummingbirds too, nests are too small to find in the foliage.

[ness]

Cherokee purple is one of my favorites.

I think we've got a cardinal nesting in the big spruce in our yard -- the other day I saw a momma fly right in a hole in the side like she knew right where she was going. Can't see the nest though. They're nice to have around. Plenty of robins and a few doves around, but I haven't spotted any nests. A dang starling built a nest just off our deck, about 10 feet off the ground in a birch. My bird dogs go out there and just sit there staring up at it. We had a family of foxes in the hood two years ago, and I was happy to see one the other night again. I hope they're back -- pretty cool to see. Cats, well, they belong to my neighbors so I just deal with them.

[Feathers and Fins]

2 Pair of doves, Pair of Cards and my Robins nesting in my Oak. Word to the wise Robins are smart and demanding, I started giving them left over night crawlers a couple months back and now if im in the yard I have a pair of followers everywhere I go. My wife just shakes her head at me when im out there being followed by them.

Also a Squirrel that sits on the porch waiting for crackers every night. Wife came home the other day and he wouldn't budge she came in and told me about it I grabbed a cracker took it to him and she said STOP TRAINING THE WILDLIFE lol.

[ness]

Thanks for the recommendation. I'll see if I can find one of those.

Ness I will have to keep a look out for the Sun gold cherries.

Looks like you can still order plants from Burpee or Territorial but that shipping.... Read the description and reviews on the Burpee site. They really are good. I've seen them at big box stores before.

[Seth]

The green house here at the school district I work for had a bunch of extra plants leftover from their sale. I went out and checked out what they had and they had some cherokee purple tomatoes left. I grabbed a flat along with a flat of brandywine and rutgers. Also grabbed some sweet yellow bell and some jalapenos. It has been pouring most of the day here so I hope things dry out soon enough to where I can get the ground garden area tilled up and ready to go. That is where I had planned on putting the tomatoes this year since I've had them in the raised beds for the past two years.

I'd planned on tilling the ground garden area this week, but I just ran out of time. I've been outside working till dark every day this week getting the flower beds cleaned up, edged and mulched as well as cleaning all of the helicopters out of the guttering. My fiance helped with the weeding, mulching and mowed the yard as well. Last night, it started pouring on us right as we were dumping the last load of weeds and branches that we'd removed from the flower beds.

[BilletHead]

Sounds like everyone's gardens are coming along nicely. Nice rain here last night and this morning. Might be hit with severe storms in the next days . Here is to hoping our gardens are spared and all of us too. Most of all the tomatoes are blooming. Still no sign of tomatoes but I bet some will appear soon,

Have a mix of Black Krim, Mighty sweet hybrid (two inch grape), Celebrity and Sunny Boy hybrid. We ordered these seeds from Burpee. Don't know how good they are with there seed being packaged but out of all of this we have a brandywine plant. Go figure, Can tell by the leaves.

Lettuce is winding down. Got our fill of that for sure,

Picked up some broccoli seed from Walmart. Ferry -Morse brand. Not too sure how accurate their seeds are either. Check this out in the batch we started a Kohlrabi has appeared,

Broccoli plants are nice but not much for florets forming. Maybe not planted by the right sign of the moon? I don't rely on that but who knows? Not sure what to do with this bed soon. Could buy more tomatoes for a later batch? maybe throw in a zucchini plant or two? Just can't leave it with nothing in there. Peppers shooting right up and a few blooms are forming.

Four types planted. Big Daddy sweet, Big guy hybrid (jalapeno),Big boss man(ancho-poblano hybrid) and long tall sally hybrid sweet.

Then on to the blackberry patch This is the third year for it. All I can say is wow! Two different types. Center row one type has bloomed like crazy and berries started to form. Other ones have buds starting. It is going to be berry, berry good summer picking here. I can hardly believe the stalks. When they have done their thing and I cut out the ones that have produced next winter I will have to use a saw!

Herbs for the season. Started Cilantro, oregano, rosemary and basil. Second time trying to start rosemary and it did not go so I bought plants. Basil from seeds I harvested last year. Had an extra pot and bought today some hot/ spicy oregano for it. All doing good and have sage in front yard as well as chives. Both come back every spring.

Finally gooseberries. Big crop. I may not pick all green and let a few ripen like Ness did last season so I will have a tart bunch and some a bit sweeter,

BilletHead