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Post by raphanus on Aug 6, 2021 13:50:18 GMT -5
It's that time of the year where every day it is 100 degrees before noon, with afternoon thunderstorms so reliable one could set a watch to it. Gardens have a lot of food in them, but it's such an unsightly weedy mess and mosquito fest. And the food that is out there is getting nibbled on and getting a lot of disease.
All the lush dense tropical foliage and shade is providing plenty of habitat and refuge for mice/rats as well.
It was somewhat emotionally difficult, but I spent about 2 hours and a whole roll of heavy duty trimmer line just whacking everything to the ground.
There's was swamp grasses out there taller than me and shoulder high flowering mint plants, pumpkin vines climbing into the oak trees, thickets of blackberry, sprawling cherry tomato vines everywhere, and of course lots of dollarweed and dove weed. Volunteer sweet potato vines climbing on top of everything and stalled out the weed whacker quite a few times.
I really miss winter. In January, I have a nice quaint neat and tidy salad garden with perfectly straight weed-free rows of pretty kales and collards and spinach and lettuces, in August I have a delicious jungle that is quite the eyesore and snake hazard. I wouldn't be surprised if I saw a gator out here soon the way it was going.
Still a lot of work to do tomorrow with some machetes and reorganizing and need to clean out the flooded shed and do some handweeding, but at least the walking paths are clear now and the outlines of the raised beds visible. Can't wait for cooler weather.
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Post by Wheelgarden on Aug 6, 2021 14:59:55 GMT -5
raphanus, my cousin and her husband live in that area, and often look forward to winter for the same reasons. As jungly as it can get here in NW GA, it's a bigger challenge for you folks. Buzz it on down, start again.
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Post by gardendmpls on Aug 6, 2021 18:16:04 GMT -5
Our climate is nothing like yours, but I wonder what you could do to keep the weeds at bay. I use a thick layer of hay, which keeps weed seeds from sprouting and then, early in the morning, walk around the garden pulling up stray weeds. When laying down the hay, I peel off squares from the bale and lay them out over any exposed soil like tiles. Also pull stray weeds here and there while harvesting, watering or walking out to feed the chickens. The hay breaks down to soil near the end of the season and I add more on top in the fall to cover everything until spring. Got the idea from reading Ruth Stout's books.
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Post by raphanus on Aug 7, 2021 11:06:22 GMT -5
I'm trying to get motivated to finish the garden clean up job so I can post some pictures and hopefully get some ideas from folks here on what direction to go in for late summer planting. It's not quite 100 degrees today and it's cloudy, so a good day to get the clean-up finished, but it's tough getting motivated to go out into the mosquito fest two days in a row. Hoping to have some photos to share by tonight.
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Post by raphanus on Aug 11, 2021 21:17:51 GMT -5
August-September are usually very hot and very wet with tropical storms possible. October and November are usually drier but still warm. First frost will probably be late November, but could be as late as the end of December or early January. What should I plant? The smaller area is about 8x8 and was zucchini this spring, and was salad greens this past winter, and was peppers in summer of 2020. What should I plant here? The larger area was tomatillos this year and was garlic this past winter and was soybeans and pumpkin in summer of 2020 and was fava beans in winter 2019. What should I plant here?
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Post by gardendmpls on Aug 11, 2021 21:33:40 GMT -5
August-September are usually very hot and very wet with tropical storms possible First frost will probably be late November, It's funny because we are way north of you, but weather is hot and rainy these months (although the thunderstorms do cool things down a bit). First frost is usually a few days either side of Thanksgiving although in the last twenty years it was quite a bit later a few times. Being a few blocks from the water has a moderating effect. I am planting peas, lettuce, spinach, brassicas (broccoli, cabbage etc.), pac choy, kohlrabi, beets, carrots, lettuce and other greens. Some years we get a lot, others not, but when you get a late harvest it's worth it
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Post by Mumsey on Aug 18, 2021 4:59:27 GMT -5
raphanus, I see you have a helper there! I have planted lots of broccoli for Fall, as well as lettuce and radishes. That's all the empty space there will is, aside from the vacated cabbage bed which will be garlic this Fall.
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Post by raphanus on Aug 27, 2021 15:05:20 GMT -5
I'd like to have a garden journal I can look back on. I've had my annual vegetable gardens in this spot on and off, mostly on since 2004. I started with one 4x4 raised bed. I now have over a dozen raised beds, but the wooden frames around a lot of them have rotted away from constant moisture.
I spent another couple hours with the weedwhacker and a machete today whacking down more sweet potato vines, malabar vines, tomato vines, tomatillo plants, and pumpkin vines. I finally caught on of the rats that has been plaguing me, but unfortunately it looks like a baby, so there are definitely more. I saw another rat today, a larger one while weedwhacking.
It was over 120 in the greenhouse and I had to weedwhack in there for a bit, but the fumes started to build up and I was getting overheated.
I splurged and bought a really high end $400 Husqvarna weed whacker the other day, going to try that out at the orchard tomorrow. The orchard is definitely much neater and cleaner than the annual gardens. The orchard is at 16 feet above sea level and much drier while the annual gardens a couple miles away are next to the river and only 4 feet above sea level. The orchard is too shady for most annual vegetables unfortunately.
I still have a ton of zinnias blooming and have peppers and eggplant in large fabric pots that are producing well.
My biggest weed at the moment is Asiatic Dayflower. It's semi aquatic, spreads really quickly with long running stolons that root every few inches. It makes little blue flowers that are kinda pretty, but it is awful because it chokes out everything and will even climb into the largest containers. As a ground cover, it is also difficult to weedwhack. It is interesting how weed problems change over the years. Years ago, bermuda grass was my worst weed. Tons of heavy weeodchip mulch got rid of all the grass problems, but wood chip mulch selected for Prickly Sida and Dollarweed. I used clear plastic solarization and anaerobic disinfestation to get rid of most of the sida and dollarweed, but the clear plastic selected for asiatic dayflower. There also seems to be a huge flush of chamber bitter this year for some odd reason, but I think I am getting them before they go to seed.
I saw some purple mustard volunteering today, which is nice. I don't think rats like mustard. Rats love sunchokes though and sweet taters, and both of those are about ready to harvest.
I think I'm done in the gardens today, I'm exhausted and filthy. I'm spending all day at the orchard tomorrow. Hoping to move a lot of potted plants from the gardens to the orchard to clear space and make weed and rodent control easier at the gardens. It's way too early to plant spinach, but I am going to plant some in deep shade at the orchard tomorrow anyway, probably in pots so I can move them to full sun come December.
I guess that's all for today. Have a great day
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Post by reuben on Aug 27, 2021 17:06:51 GMT -5
Dang, raphanus, that's a lotta work! And especially so considering it was mostly to get rid of junk. Take a break, relax, and then tomorrow go out, look, and be proud of all of the work you did today.
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Post by raphanus on Aug 28, 2021 7:41:44 GMT -5
Thanks reuben ,! It does look nice this morning. Today's project at the orchard, I need ideas. I have a lot of large oak logs and limbs and branches and a couple dozen 2x4s that have been sitting in a pile getting rained on and looking messy with weeds growing up in them. I need to build something, or multiple somethings. I thought about a chicken coop, but that's a larger project than I'm willing to take on in one day. I might try to build some raised beds, but I'm pretty much out of room in all the full sun and part sun space, and would have to put any new beds in deep shade. I'm also considering doubling the height of some of the existing beds, but that could be a little tricky as most of them are made of oak logs, not lumber. So much wood and so little space and time! Also, I think I mentioned I caught a small rat in a snap trap. When I went out this morning, the entire trap with the rat in it had completely disappeared and was nowhere to be found! What kind of animal would come collect a dead rat and take the entire trap with it? These are the large wooden Victor Rat Traps. Very puzzling!
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Post by raphanus on Sept 1, 2021 14:03:16 GMT -5
Taking suggestions fo what to plant!
My first frost is in 90-100 days.
Winter minimums are expected to be around 25-28 F with daytime highs in the 60s-70s.
I need to plant one 4x4 raised bed, on 8x6 raised bed, one 8x4 raised bed, and one 8x8 raised bed.
I’ve seen some mustard volunteering, so am definitely going to plant some more mustard.
I don’t want to plant anything that rats love, like carrots or beets or broccoli.
I’m probably doing to direct sow everything.
I have seeds for every crop.
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Post by raphanus on Sept 2, 2021 18:34:36 GMT -5
I spent a few hours pulling chamber bitter, horse weed, asiatic day flower, and dollar weed.
Cleaned up a raised bed in the front yard that was pumpkin all summer. Sowed seed for Morris Heading Collards, and hide them behind zinnias. It was full of fire ant nests, hoping they don’t eat all the seeds.
Built a new raised bed in the front yard and sowed purple mustard behind a border of zinnias.
In the backyard, I planted the 8x6 raised bed with collards, arugula, spinach, and purple mustard.
I’m thinking of doing the whole 8x8 bed in garlic.
Have some yellow jackets on the greenhouse door, need to remove that before I can close the door completely to solarize the greenhouse. I usually go out early with a jar of soap water and give the next a solid whack. It’s a shame because I love wasps and they are fantastic predators and I live to watch them hunt caterpillars, I try to encourage wasps in the garden, but not on the greenhouse door.
Might try some zuchino rampicante on the giant 20 ft tall trellis in the back, need to check days to harvest. If not it will be beans or peas.
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Post by raphanus on Sept 4, 2021 4:48:17 GMT -5
I worked at the orchard today. Built a new 8x4 raised bed out of oak logs and limb. Put cardboard down, then made a frame with the logs, then filled it halfway with smaller oak logs, limbs and twigs to save money. Going to chop down all the Mississippi pink eyed purple hulls today, they would continue to produce until frost three-four months from now, but they are no longer justified in occupying real estate at the orchard now that temperatures are finally cooling off. Not a lot grows when it is 105 every day so I was fine with just cowpeas and peppers and eggplant at the orchard this summer, but with daytime highs only in the 80s-90s now, I can remove the cowpeas and plant collards, kale, Paris Island lettuce, and maybe some heat tolerant spinach. When I chop down cowpeas I am always careful to not disturb the roots and their rhizobia. I clip the plants at the base, leaving the roots in the soil. All the vines, leaves, green material will go on top of the oak limbs in the new raised bed, further saving money on dirt. I should only have to fill the top few inches with compost and potting mix. I’ve used cheaper top soil before but that always invites weed issues and doesn’t save that much money. Have a great weekend everyone!
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Post by raphanus on Sept 9, 2021 6:01:16 GMT -5
gardendmpls , that’s so cool that there is a zone 7 in New York! I always assumed NY was all really cold, but I googled Rockaway and it looks like a really nice beach town with surf shops and stuff! Being zone 7, you could probably grow spinach, collards, kale, garlic, and most all root crops through the whole winter without any protection, right? My sister just moved to NYC and I’m trying to get her into gardening, she only has a fire escape porch thing at her apartment in the city, but I sent her some kale seeds and I’m hoping they can overwinter in pots for her. I’m in the Deep South and coastal, zone 8b/9a, but there are mountains a few hours northwest of me that are zone 7. I feel like zone 7 is the perfect zone to garden in. Have a great fall season!
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Post by raphanus on Sept 9, 2021 6:13:47 GMT -5
I’d like to post some pictures today if it stops raining. The collards, spinach, arugula, and mustard in the 8x6 bed I’m the backyard are germinated quickly and nicely. The rows are very thick, so I’ll be thinning them and using the ones I thin as micro greens. Diamondback moth caterpillars pressure is still very high, and there are also some holes in the greens from beetles. Salad greens grow fine this time of year, but look awful from bug damage until mid November or so. There are many volunteer diakons popping up in this bed, which is fine.
The raised bed in the front yard that was full of fireants has had almost no germination, and I used the same collard seed I used in the backyard which germinated fine in the backyard. Maybe the fireants got a lot of the seeds. The zinnias I planted in pots around the new raised bed germinated in 3 days, but the zinnias I showed in the bed with fireants did not germinate. I might have to replant the whole bed with fireants with garlic.
I checked the zucchino rampicante and it’s supposed to be 70 days or so, so Imrolled the dice and sowed a few seeds under the 20ft metal trellis where I had cherry tomatoes earlier this year. Pickle worm moth caterpillar pressure is still extremely high, and all my cucumbers are full of holes, but I’m hoping that there may be some resistance or at least non-preference with the rampicante.
I still need to plant the 8x8 bed, which will probably be garlic since there is garlic volunteering in it already. It was mostly garlic last winter though, so I should probably rotate.
Also still need to replant another 4x4 raised bed in the backyard that was basically fallow+weeds all summer. It was collard kale hybrids last winter. Probably should be lettuce this winter.
I have a 2x6 raised bed that is super narrow and in deep shade. It has been a rotation of beans and peas for years and years. I’m thinking of doing spinach there this winter. I’m tired of peas and it needs a break from legumes.
I have 20 magnolia tree seedlings I’m thinking of planting in a row hedge in my front yard, hoping that they will be massive in a few years and make a nice privacy fence and stop people from parking in my yard. I’m sure the HOA will lose their mind, but I’m going to roll the dice and plant them this morning and hope they don’t fine me or make me dig them up.
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