2018 Garden Thread

[BilletHead]

            Still going crazy here in BilletHeadVille garden wise,

  Trying something a bit different in the bed where our cucumbers are. Had a fellow tell me this works. i can see how it might. Have four hills of cucumbers. Made little ladders out of fencing for the vines to climb onto a section of cattle panel. When they hit the panel I will train to vine all over it. Panel at an angle and your cucumbers are supposed to hang straight down. Easy to find and easy to pick,

        One of the many flower patches in bloom. Mostly natives in here but the Mrs. did slip in some blackberry lilies. I put in pale purple coneflowers, coreopsis, butterfly milkweed and Shasta daisies,

 

     In the water garden we put in a few small water lettuce plants. Once they establish they multiply quickly. Every couple of days we do a purge. Like to cover half the open water for shade that the fish like. So if anyone wants some we have some for free. May be in Springfield in a couple of weeks and if you are not hard to find we may deliver,

    We have another black tub like the one here across the fence. Once the deer find it they feast. Funny watching them grazing and munching the stuff,

  BilletHead

[Johnsfolly]

27 minutes ago, BilletHead said:

  In the water garden we put in a few small water lettuce plants. Once they establish they multiply quickly. Every couple of days we do a purge. Like to cover half the open water for shade that the fish like. So if anyone wants some we have some for free. May be in Springfield in a couple of weeks and if you are not hard to find we may deliver,

    We have another black tub like the one here across the fence. Once the deer find it they feast. Funny watching them grazing and munching the stuff,

Glad to hear the deer eat this plant. Don't let that non-native invasive get into a waterway ! The cold here in MO may stop them from getting established year round. That stuff just clogs up the canals in Florida and I would imagine Louisiana, Texas, etc. Manatees like eating these plants, but as you mentioned they grow faster than they can be controlled.

[BilletHead]

22 minutes ago, Johnsfolly said:

Glad to hear the deer eat this plant. Don't let that non-native invasive get into a waterway ! The cold here in MO may stop them from getting established year round. That stuff just clogs up the canals in Florida and I would imagine Louisiana, Texas, etc. Manatees like eating these plants, but as you mentioned they grow faster than they can be controlled.

             They die with the first cold snap. Does not even have to frost. Very cold sensitive. As long as this global warming thing doesn't keep up I think we will be OK. Been using this plant for years. 

BilletHead

[Johnsfolly]

Not giving you a hard time. Just saw this plant choke up canals in Florida.

[BilletHead]

43 minutes ago, Johnsfolly said:

Not giving you a hard time. Just saw this plant choke up canals in Florida.

         Said possible native in Florida. Cannot possess or transport it in Texas

[Lancer09]

Well everything is going well with the garden so far.

Lost a plant or two, and  a few are looking a little puny, but everything is thriving for the most part.

Biggest tom so far is a black krim that has a circumference about the same as a baseball now. Hopefully I'll be eating fresh tomatoes on the 4th.

 

 

[Johnsfolly]

Not a vegetable garden post. We have a very thick stand of common milkweed in our yard this year. The pollinators have been covering the flowers. Here are a few of the insects we have attracted this year.

Silver spotted skippers

spicebush (pipevine?) swallowtail butterflies

Clearwing moth (we call them hummingbird moths)

Bumblebees galore

A potter wasp

I haven't got photos, but we have seen tiger swallowtails, monarchs, great spangled frittilaries, a bunch of different flies, bees, and moths.

 

[MOPanfisher]

Cool, my olinator patch did nothing this year.  And sadly the Japanese beetles are beginning to show up, don't see them on trees yet, but if the filter basket on my pool is any indicator they are here and getting more numerous.  Gonna be a malthion summer looks like.

[BilletHead]

On ‎6‎/‎14‎/‎2018 at 9:19 PM, MOPanfisher said:

Cool, my olinator patch did nothing this year.  And sadly the Japanese beetles are beginning to show up, don't see them on trees yet, but if the filter basket on my pool is any indicator they are here and getting more numerous.  Gonna be a malthion summer looks like.

           We feel your pain to the West of you Mopanfisher. Beetles going nuts here too. Visited out county extension office. The lady there said we have not seen the worst of them. After a few more years they should level out. So bad here we cut down some things they like. Crape Myrtle for one example. They are beginning to skeletonize my chestnuts and crabapple right now. I even want to cut down our old wisteria but the Mrs. asked me not to.  I am about to go postal on it with spray. There will be thousands of beetles littering the ground under it,

   BilletHead

[BilletHead]

                   Sucking up lots of water,

    The Tomato plants in the self watering tubs are soaking up from one to two gallons a day, unreal. It is beginning to look like a jungle. I planted them from three to four foot apart. Trying to keep them tidy and tied up but seem to be loosing that battle.

      Some are getting too tall but there are tomatoes all the way to the top on some especially the cherry. 

Seven foot tall before the buzz cut and that is measured from where the plant meets the soil in  the tub,

    Then there is the battle with the Japanese beetles.  My koi, green sunfish and little bass are very happy with me today and with the bottom of this trap open I don't have to empty it ,

   BilletHead