Garden 2020

[Boissal]

I have cedar beds at my house that have been going strong for 10 years now, no sign of rot or any other damage. I went with 3 2x4 insted of 2 2x6, makes the bed 1/2" shorter but cuts the cost a bunch.

In other news, I ate my first tomato this morning, a sun sugar. About 10 days earlier than in previous good years. Not going to wax poetics about it, all I can say is that after 6+ months of store-bought stuff the taste is just over the top.

[skaredshtles]

<snip>
In other news, I ate my first tomato this morning, a sun sugar. About 10 days earlier than in previous good years. Not going to wax poetics about it, all I can say is that after 6+ months of store-bought stuff the taste is just over the top.

You fucking BASTID!

[riser4]

You fucking BASTID!

This.

[skaredshtles]

This is as close as I can get right now:

[riser4]

I have cedar beds at my house that have been going strong for 10 years now, no sign of rot or any other damage. I went with 3 2x4 insted of 2 2x6, makes the bed 1/2" shorter but cuts the cost a bunch.

In other news, I ate my first tomato this morning, a sun sugar. About 10 days earlier than in previous good years. Not going to wax poetics about it, all I can say is that after 6+ months of store-bought stuff the taste is just over the top.

Your climate is different than mine. On both counts.

[Dave Minion]

Been slowly working on this project as funds allow since being laid off in March. Managed to source some really nice soil this week to fill the 5 beds I put together a few weeks ago. Added horse manure compost tonight and planted two of the beds after adding a layer of peat moss and potting soil to the top of them. Getting more of the potting soil and peat moss tomorrow so we can keep planting.

So far we have tomatoes, cucumber, squash, eggplant, peppers, and watermelon. Lots more to come. Hopeful we have some decent crops as this is has been alot of work so far. Fingers crossed.

Also, picked a huge bowl off my red currant bush today!Attachment 332660Attachment 332661

Will eventually put rock down on the plastic. Need more funds for that.

Solid work NW!, I hope you get repaid for your efforts too. I was de-stalking currants today as well, not my favourite job, but the freezer is now getting chock of fruits for winter. Blueberries started to turn colour, so I had to cage them in quickly, the hen Blackbirds are so pissed!

[BobMc]

I put in raised beds all through half of my yard, but there’s been a section of crappy grass that’s always bugged me.





A stoneyard near me had a special for $399 for 100sf of flagstones, a ton of sand, and 100sf of weed barrier. I reserved a sod cutter for last Saturday and figured that would cut the grass off and then go a few passes to get down to 4 inches or so. Yeah, right, that fucking thing was a bucking bronco on my clay soil. It scrubbed off the grass but didn’t really penetrate the soil.



So, jumping on shovels it was.



We dug all day and into the next.



My wife carried the 2000 pounds of flagstones from the truck to the back yard.



After work last week I trudged 8 wagonloads of sand into my dug pit.



Borrowed a roller and tamped it last night.



Started laying the stone last night and finished it today. I still need a couple bags of sand to fill in a bit, and then put down the polymeric sand and wet it. It was a lot of fucking work, I’m beat this evening, bout ready to fire up the grill and chill.

[irul&ublo]

Looking good. On the sod cutter, your issue was, in the words of Tim Allen...more power!!!! Hydraulic sod cutter...just saying

[Mr. Mike]

looks great, and that's a lot of work. You deserve the couch tomorrow.

[hellojello74]

@10yds of dirt, I’ve already started a compost pile

Those are nice, what did you use for material on the main structure? Did you line them? Oh and how tall.
We currently have 13 boxes of various sizes but they are almost ready to be replaced and want to make something taller since they about 10 inches tall now.

[Flyoverland Captive]

We left town Fri morn; Sat eve I get a text from a friend who, luckily, had dropped by to get some stuff she left at our house. She found the garden flooded, and a broken hose spraying all over. Never seen this before:



Gonna be a fun water bill.

[snoqpass]

Those are nice, what did you use for material on the main structure? Did you line them? Oh and how tall.
We currently have 13 boxes of various sizes but they are almost ready to be replaced and want to make something taller since they about 10 inches tall now.

We were on the corona budget, I used 3/4 plywood and 2x treated it with Copper-green-Brown and lined it with plastic on the sides they are 2’ tall basically I built them like concrete forms.

[BCMtnHound]

Apples and plums looking good despite the hail storm night before last.



Honeybees are thick on the sumac


Tomatoes and cukes are coming along nicely under plastic



Carrots are slow and germination wasn't the best this year. Kale has been a staple for a couple months. Time to harvest the hardneck garlic scapes.


Beans are climbing cm's per day. I wonder if they climb clockwise south of the equator?


Peas and corn, 2 sowings, are doing alright. Surprised the first sowing of peas haven't flowered yet.


Zucchini (and pattypans by the garlic) are showing promise, but having issues with fertilization given the cold and wet weather.


Strawberries are laden, needing sun badly. Tasting like storebought so far.


And raspberries are looking good too, for their first full season. Just need some sun. The June monsoons just won't let up yet.


But on the less bright side, the lettuce, parsley and swiss chard have been having the longest season ever. Might need to rethink the placement of the basil though, or sacrifice a lighter coloured bedsheet.


Damn, guess I need to turn off the rotation lock on the iPad, sideways photos suk in TRG-Land.

[tgapp]

Carrots are slow and germination wasn't the best this year. Kale has been a staple for a couple months. Time to harvest the hardneck garlic scapes.

your garden looks beautiful! and i'm super jealous of your garlic scapes. that's one of my favorite greens ever.

[irul&ublo]

We left town Fri morn; Sat eve I get a text from a friend who, luckily, had dropped by to get some stuff she left at our house. She found the garden flooded, and a broken hose spraying all over. Never seen this before:



Gonna be a fun water bill.

Was that a failure of the golf ball through the garden hose test?

[Flyoverland Captive]

Maybe, but she’s into women, so probably not.

[Boissal]

We left town Fri morn; Sat eve I get a text from a friend who, luckily, had dropped by to get some stuff she left at our house. She found the garden flooded, and a broken hose spraying all over. Never seen this before:

Gonna be a fun water bill.

Had that happen early last year, I think it was at a spot where the hose was bent at a sharp angle. Ms Boissal used to roll her eyes at me when I unspooled the hoses and made sure they were nicely re-coiled without sharp bends but after having one blow up on the side of house and almost flood the basement she's now on board (the spot where it ruptured was spraying at the wall of the house and dripping over a window well, I luckily caught it right around the time the well filled in and was about to start pouring into the basement).
We've upgraded all the hoses to the thicker and much stiffer variety (what she said). We're considering burying everything this fall now that we've more or less finalized the design of the entire yard. Until now having hoses above ground was nice to change things up from season to seaon.

[riser4]

Had that happen early last year, I think it was at a spot where the hose was bent at a sharp angle. Ms Boissal used to roll her eyes at me when I unspooled the hoses and made sure they were nicely re-coiled without sharp bends but after having one blow up on the side of house and almost flood the basement she's now on board (the spot where it ruptured was spraying at the wall of the house and dripping over a window well, I luckily caught it right around the time the well filled in and was about to start pouring into the basement).
We've upgraded all the hoses to the thicker and much stiffer variety (what she said). We're considering burying everything this fall now that we've more or less finalized the design of the entire yard. Until now having hoses above ground was nice to change things up from season to seaon.

Buried hose is great until you stick a shovel thru it.

[Boissal]

Buried hose is great until you stick a shovel thru it.

I have extensive experience with that as well, my house had at least 3 generations of sprinkler systems installed with random pipes all over the place, some connected and plugged, some in the ground just for confusion. I think I put the shovel through the thick black flex tube at least 5 times over the years. So much fun to repair...
The above ground option is OK but not really sustainable long term, too many connections that must be redone every year and invariably end up leaking. Our idiot neighbor still manages to take down a sprinkler head on a monthly basis by backing his truck all the way across the street into the edge of our driveway despite the giant rock I hauled out of Big Cottonwood as protection... And the sun eventually fucks up the hoses, after 3 seasons they get brittle.
If we didn't have to run pipes under the driveway I'd have buried the whole thing already.

[skaredshtles]

So if anyone is in the market for hose, this seems to be the best-regarded "regular" garden hose:

[riser4]

I have extensive experience with that as well, my house had at least 3 generations of sprinkler systems installed with random pipes all over the place, some connected and plugged, some in the ground just for confusion. I think I put the shovel through the thick black flex tube at least 5 times over the years. So much fun to repair...
The above ground option is OK but not really sustainable long term, too many connections that must be redone every year and invariably end up leaking. Our idiot neighbor still manages to take down a sprinkler head on a monthly basis by backing his truck all the way across the street into the edge of our driveway despite the giant rock I hauled out of Big Cottonwood as protection... And the sun eventually fucks up the hoses, after 3 seasons they get brittle.
If we didn't have to run pipes under the driveway I'd have buried the whole thing already.

You need a few railroad track sections cut at an angle and planted at an angle. Think Normandy beaches prior to D-Day. Then said neighbor can back into those.

[SB]

Just took a running shot at the ground hawg, got him in the hinder.

[getoutside]

looks great, and that's a lot of work. You deserve the couch tomorrow.

^^ your wife does as well. that's a ton of work!

In other news, I ate my first tomato this morning, a sun sugar. About 10 days earlier than in previous good years. Not going to wax poetics about it, all I can say is that after 6+ months of store-bought stuff the taste is just over the top.

hell yea and can't wait to eat one as well. so a question for you. have 7 of 8 cherry tomato plants with anywhere from 30-40 currently in play but one plant has none. tall AF but with far less leaves so less likely to happen, but assume just keep pruning suckers and see what happens?

[riser4]

Just took a running shot at the ground hawg, got him in the hinder.

Most impressive shot I ever saw was my mom with a bow nailing one from the porch 20-25 yrds to the garden. She spooked it and it was running away at an angle. We needed those veges to make it through the winter and she wasn't letting a woodchuck shorten our rations. She was pretty damn good with a bow.

[thedude2340]

Anyone have experience growing a single tomatillo plant and getting fruit? So far a ton of flowers but they all fade away. Internets are conflicting, one side says you need two for pollination other side says if you have bees one should do just fine.

Can’t say I have a ton of bees around but definitely some.