Gardening threads (merged)

[*Snowdrop* 604]

Me too. Any started their own compost pile? I started one this year and it should be about ready for its first turning when I return home.

We compost all our food waste. Basically just a huge pile in one corner of the yard.

Had our first salad from the garden at dinner tonight - arugula, lettuce leaves and baby kale leaves - it was delicious. Plus we are eating asparagus every day just to keep up with the patch.

Flower beds I am still experimenting with. Need suggestions for shade loving perennials. Preferably with really pretty and bright flowers.

[luckytxn 2,264]

Most excellent Lynne. Degradable food waste makes excellent compost. My wife keeps putting the crab shells in though even after I let her know that they must be crushed somewhat. I just do that myself and I believe that is what she wanted me to do. I also use a corner of the yard near my shed.

I am so glad that the garden is being abundant enough to start being able to feed. It is the most rewarding thing to be abe to eat what you have grown yourself. I am jealous though about the asparagus. I love to eat asparagus and have never grown it myself. That is something that will be in my first garden at my home I have now. Very nice.

As for the flower beds That is a tough call. I have no idea where you live and that is the paramount importance. I suggest to go to the area nurseries and see what they have. Nurseries usually only carry the plants that are right for the area you live in but I still double check. Lol. Take a notebook and write down what you like then go and google and get info. As you know perennials live for 2 years or more and die back every fall and grow again from their root-stock. So it is best to find ones you really like. Of course experiment and if not too happy rip them out and then try another until you get what you want.

Again thanks Lynne for coming in and giving us the update. I was hoping you would and please come and keep updating.

We compost all our food waste. Basically just a huge pile in one corner of the yard.

Had our first salad from the garden at dinner tonight - arugula, lettuce leaves and baby kale leaves - it was delicious. Plus we are eating asparagus every day just to keep up with the patch.

Flower beds I am still experimenting with. Need suggestions for shade loving perennials. Preferably with really pretty and bright flowers.

[luckytxn 2,264]

As for the greenhouse. It has been many years but when young we had two greenhouses. One was smaller maybe 8 foot by 8 foot and 6 foot high. This one was the general greenhouse where my Grandmother would have shelves and a couple of counters and when still chilly out we would rewrap the outside with a poly sheeting of about 6 mil thickness like this in the link.

http://www.amazon.com/Greenhouse-Plastic-Polyethylene-Covering-Solution/dp/B00BM8HHKK

The greenhouse was just of wood wit the corners being 4x4 posts and about every 4 feet of a 4x4 or whatever similar wood or whatever scrap we had around. We would roll out the sheeting need and cut it and then attach it with a manual hand stapler like in this link.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Staple_gun

At the front we would have an opening about the size of a door but we used an old somewhat clear shower curtain and when we entered we just pushed through it. Later she found an old door and tossed it into her station wagon and had me put that up. For the roof we used a clear pvc roofing panel like in this link.

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Palruf-26-in-x-12-ft-Clear-PVC-Roofing-Panel-100427/100000045

Of course we had this stuff laying around and we would just gather it up and build it. The frame stayed in place always anyway. As the summer heat and humidity rose we could pull the poly sheet off and the staples would just rip through and leave a tiny hole and then roll the sheeting up and reuse it in the future.

Now in my shed now I keep all wood and never throw it out and even sometimes find good size pieces of wood and I will just toss it into the back of my pickup and take it home and put in my shed. I even found a perfectly old door that was still good and asked that homeowner since he was tossing it if I could have it and he said take it and I did. (People are wasteful. smh) I could build a nice greenhouse with what I have in my shed so this may not be the best thing for others here to do.

For the eggplant growing though one shouldn't need a large greenhouse. Just make a cheap simple frame and get some poly and staple that up. It should be good enough to get the temps where they can get going good. Water often though.

Wanted to add that if one uses to many staples and then pull the sheeting off it will rip the poly too much to be reused. I am about saving materials for reuse and saving money. My Grandma was from the Depression era and she taught me this.

Edited May 14, 2014 by luckytxn

[Crashed~N2~Me 970]

That's a great post Lucky! Thanks for the info.

Waste not want not!

(For those wanting to save a few bucks - New home construction is a good place to scavenge materials... )

I learned a compost trick a few years back = Compost Tea - Here's a link = http://www.compostjunkie.com/compost-tea-recipe.html There are plenty of different recipes on the internets.

My technique = Garbage bin and Construction quality garbage bag. Fill up the bag with compost material (food scraps...lawn clippings..etc)...mix in some nitrogen (not so much you end up building a bomb) and a bag of manure...poke holes in sides (lower half)...place in garbage bin....put a hose in the bag and fill it up until bin has water level above holes (about 70% of bin). Tie the bag...put lid on Bin. Come back once a week and stir the mix...add more water (thru the bag) as needed....let it cook until it reeks of that sweet earth smell and start using the Tea as needed. I keep it going thru Summer with a few change outs (fresh bag of mix)...amend the soil with the discarded mix and last bag = let it sit all Winter and turn the mix into the dirt b4 planting new plants. Rinse and repeat.

It reduced my need for MG (but I still use it coz ezier to attach to hose when watering than going plant to plant with a bucket and ladle)

Edited May 14, 2014 by Crashed~N2~Me

[luckytxn 2,264]

Thanks CnM.

That is a great post. I have never heard of that and I plan on doing some reading and studying. Excellent. Easy too.

I like the idea of home construction sites. Be carefull though. I had permission to go through a site waste pile and scavenge some choice pieces and a busybody that lived across the street called the police on me. Luckily it was cleared up easily. I had gotten some excellent 2x4's there. These sites also usually have that poly needed for a greenhouse. What they would consider waste and toss away would be more than enough to build a nice little eggplant greenhouse.

That's a great post Lucky! Thanks for the info.

Waste not want not!

(For those wanting to save a few bucks - New home construction is a good place to scavenge materials... )

I learned a compost trick a few years back = Compost Tea - Here's a link = http://www.compostjunkie.com/compost-tea-recipe.html There are plenty of different recipes on the internets.

My technique = Garbage bin and Construction quality garbage bag. Fill up the bag with compost material (food scraps...lawn clippings..etc)...mix in some nitrogen (not so much you end up building a bomb) and a bag of manure...poke holes in sides (lower half)...place in garbage bin....put a hose in the bag and fill it up until bin has water level above holes (about 70% of bin). Tie the bag...put lid on Bin. Come back once a week and stir the mix...add more water (thru the bag) as needed....let it cook until it reeks of that sweet earth smell and start using the Tea as needed. I keep it going thru Summer with a few change outs (fresh bag of mix)...amend the soil with the discarded mix and last bag = let it sit all Winter and turn the mix into the dirt b4 planting new plants. Rinse and repeat.

It reduced my need for MG (but I still use it coz ezier to attach to hose when watering than going plant to plant with a bucket and ladle)

[Darnell 8,478]

my winter, removable greenhouses...

vertical supports - cyclone fence posts, reclaimed.

overbeams - half of a trampoline frame [half a circle] - usually 6 to 7 halfs, depending on the radius ... also reclaimed.

i have 5 of these, comfortably gathering rust awaiting the next start of cold season..

usually have a plastic translucent covering, from overbeam to the ground, kept in place by zipties...

Only one has a door frame, the rest are double'd plastic where a door might be

i get most of my stuff from freecycle, open CL posts that I put out, and driving through town on heavy-trash-recycling day.

[sorry, no time to write about my garden stuff this season or last, I've been busy]

[luckytxn 2,264]

Thanks Darnell. I can visualize what you have and that is excellent. Nice I am not the only scavenger around. Sounds like you have a big area. Come by when you get the time and tell us more please.

my winter, removable greenhouses...

vertical supports - cyclone fence posts, reclaimed.

overbeams - half of a trampoline frame [half a circle] - usually 6 to 7 halfs, depending on the radius ... also reclaimed.

i have 5 of these, comfortably gathering rust awaiting the next start of cold season..

usually have a plastic translucent covering, from overbeam to the ground, kept in place by zipties...

Only one has a door frame, the rest are double'd plastic where a door might be

i get most of my stuff from freecycle, open CL posts that I put out, and driving through town on heavy-trash-recycling day.

[sorry, no time to write about my garden stuff this season or last, I've been busy]

[Darnell 8,478]

eh - I garden cause my regular work breaks my brain, and I do tactile stuff to re-balance.

gardening, building, welding, etc.... Was a great way to pass the time whilst waiting on immigration stuff. Heck, I even have a website with a blog and photos and how-to's - but do to privacy concerns I never, ever cross post anything about it.

my place is almost 2 acres, in town, buried in Houston, about 2 miles due south of the house...

When I was in Irving, I had 4.5 acres in town...

my biggest thing is the hunt for horse manure....

it's not really a hobby - i do it 'just big enough' to make a profit, make money, and sweat like a pig... it's all great exercise....

I swear I've written a bit here in this topic, prior...

I am a reclamation fiend, let me tell ya It's a great thing that I not do this stuff at the main house, else my wife would ... no, wait - let me say it another way - I could only handle so many bruises to my nether regions, then I'd die. Still, I'm not a hoarder [say that 3 times real fast] but when I look at something that someone is throwing away, I try to think about how I could re-use it.

[luckytxn 2,264]

Awesome. I of course was born in Houston and raised south of Houston in Almeda. Back then it was rural but now it is near 288 and Almeda Genoa. Roads weren't even paved back then. We had a few acres and I had to learn all this stuff. I was actually happy when I got to move to the city when young and became city folk. I still had to go stay with my Grandmother and help out a lot. Also fly out to relatives and help harvest. Now I am older and want to grow on a larger scale then just have the best yard and a garden in back. I enjoy it. I did start many years ago my own landscaping and yard care business. Then branched out and started a sprinkler installation and then a fencing business. (Cyclone and wood) Loved turning someones dreary property into a paradise.

I remember you said a few times some stuff you were doing but never realized you lived in the Houston area. Hope you can come in and post more knowledge for us Garden folk. Be glad to have you pop in when able. Ever make it out to the Kemah area when I am in town let me know. Beer is on me.

If I find any manure piles needing someone to haul away I will send a message. Saw a sign not too long ago some but it was near Dickenson.

eh - I garden cause my regular work breaks my brain, and I do tactile stuff to re-balance.

gardening, building, welding, etc.... Was a great way to pass the time whilst waiting on immigration stuff. Heck, I even have a website with a blog and photos and how-to's - but do to privacy concerns I never, ever cross post anything about it.

my place is almost 2 acres, in town, buried in Houston, about 2 miles due south of the house...

When I was in Irving, I had 4.5 acres in town...

my biggest thing is the hunt for horse manure....

it's not really a hobby - i do it 'just big enough' to make a profit, make money, and sweat like a pig... it's all great exercise....

I swear I've written a bit here in this topic, prior...

I am a reclamation fiend, let me tell ya It's a great thing that I not do this stuff at the main house, else my wife would ... no, wait - let me say it another way - I could only handle so many bruises to my nether regions, then I'd die. Still, I'm not a hoarder [say that 3 times real fast] but when I look at something that someone is throwing away, I try to think about how I could re-use it.

Edited May 17, 2014 by luckytxn

[Darnell 8,478]

ya -- i was in Houston for ages, then Irving, then back to Houston. Mostly, these days, I am retired, but thrown myself back into university for the next 4 to 5 years.... yer gonna hate me - I don't do meet ups with folk here - my public life is too public ... Crossing the streams is bad...

We are similar in background on the childhood stuff - I was slave-labor on a 5 acre spread for 2 years, and these folk were hippies (I not know it then) and did everything organically way back in the early '70s ... I was happy to learn something, really !!! these days, a buzzword of 'organic micro-farm' actually means something, and I know what I'm doing

This century, I've always had a place to grow stuff. Prior, it was a workshop. These days, I have both and to be honest, my wife's only interest is on sale days at the farmer's market

[luckytxn 2,264]

Don't hate you and never will. Just made an offer if in the area. Take it or leave it.

My wifes interest is malls and recently that new Tanger outlet in Texas city. I use our Farmers market to get the local honey for allergies and she loves me to cook often. Take care and visit here and impart any knowledge when feel like it.

ya -- i was in Houston for ages, then Irving, then back to Houston. Mostly, these days, I am retired, but thrown myself back into university for the next 4 to 5 years.... yer gonna hate me - I don't do meet ups with folk here - my public life is too public ... Crossing the streams is bad...

We are similar in background on the childhood stuff - I was slave-labor on a 5 acre spread for 2 years, and these folk were hippies (I not know it then) and did everything organically way back in the early '70s ... I was happy to learn something, really !!! these days, a buzzword of 'organic micro-farm' actually means something, and I know what I'm doing

This century, I've always had a place to grow stuff. Prior, it was a workshop. These days, I have both and to be honest, my wife's only interest is on sale days at the farmer's market

[Teddy B 17,252]

Went to Home Depot at lunch and got 40 wall blocks weighing 30lbs each and 8 bags of humus/manure to finish off the front yard this weekend. Loaded everything onto the cart and then loaded it all in my truck and made it back to work in under an hour.

I feel like somebody beat me with a bat.

Edited May 21, 2014 by Teddy B

[luckytxn 2,264]

Lol. I bet you did. Not sure what you mean by wall blocks. Is it like cinder blocks? You have a big truck.

Went to Home Depot at lunch and got 40 wall blocks weighing 30lbs each and 8 bags of humus/manure to finish off the front yard this weekend. Loaded everything onto the cart and then loaded it all in my truck and made it back to work in under an hour.

I feel like somebody beat me with a bat.

[Teddy B 17,252]

These are the wall blocks I got. 12" long x 7" deep x 4" high.

[luckytxn 2,264]

Oh ok. I have used those before. They make excellent retaining wall in a smaller area. I was looking at cinder blocks earlier so my mind was there. I like how you don't screw around.

These are the wall blocks I got. 12" long x 7" deep x 4" high.