2DogsFarm…You know it sista!!! The Rouge Vif is a staple around here. My favorite is the Jaune Gros de Paris :love-struck:. the Galeux D’ Eyesines is lovely as well. Just love my french market pumpkies I do. They are just so magnificent. And yes that method of stall cleaning/ gardening works real well for us. I don’t know if I should share this… being the garden addiction bug and all. Sometimes I companion plant sunflowers with a pumpkin patch. So you get to see the sunflowers all the while the sneaky pumpkins are quietly waiting to do their thing in the fall. It’s bliss I tell yah, pure bliss. If you haven’t tried it you should. Mostly because your medium you are brewing will have the nitrogen needed for such heavy planting load. And the birds will thank you as well.
Megaladon… All though hot peppers scare me I grow them anyways.:lol: Apocalypse Scorpion that is hot pepper growing to the HNL. :eek: Let me think about if I dare accept your dare. I thought I was super bad butt dealing with a Habanero.
We had a foot of snow here today. The only thing growing out there are the deer sharing dinner with my horses tonight.
Come the summer, they or another of their furry buddies will find and eat anything I plant. I’d need Trump’s wall to keep them out of a veggie garden. And then something would burrow underneath and get it.
I just haven’t found a solution yet. I would so love a tropically heated greenhouse that I could go play in on days like today… A big geodesic dome that I could put a hot tub in the middle of and grow out of season tender plants ALL DAMNED WINTER. (A girl can fantasize!)
atr…Snow, ugh!!! We don’t have snow here today, but a sheet of ice is covering everything. We have never had a problem with deer raiding the garden before, ever, and I have been here my whole life. That was until last year. They got into the french market pumpkins first. They would eat one a night, and theses are not small pumpkins!:eek:
Then after we harvested the pumpkins they discovered the mangle beets. They went crazy over those things I tell you. DH thought it was the coolest thing ever. He wants to dig up a small plot down on the wood line to put in some more beets just for the deer. I don’t generally get any rabbits or mice or anything like that, because all the drop off cats we get here are stone cold killers.
As for the tropical heated greenhouse with a hot tub.... I am in. Kind of funny because when you look at old victorian houses that have a conservatory my family and I are always saying how that would be my bedroom if we lived there. :DLocated in the mountains of British Columbia. I have two gardens, one deer fenced, and one open. Things that deer eat go into the fenced garden. Things that deer don’t eat go in the open garden. We can get frost at any time, once on July 1 (but still got tomatoes later in the year). The day we moved in here, 11 years ago, it was snowing on June 1 when I pulled the horse trailer down the driveway, and I grimaced. It’s OK though, it was gone in an hour or so that day. But to grow veggies here, you do have to be daring. And accepting of things that happen. So I mostly grow “tough” plants, cold hardy. I can’t grow melons or peppers. But I can and do grow many other things, and we eat out of the garden for as much of the year as possible, as grocery stores are scarce here (and I don’t like buying commercially grown veggies).
My gardens are frozen and covered with snow right now. The open garden grows mostly potatoes, and sometimes squash (but only the hardy types) and a few tomatoes. I put up about 2000 lbs of potatoes annually, and sell them locally. My main crop is French Fingerling potatoes, which are not normally available commercially (at least locally). They are the best tasting potatoes I have ever come across. But they are a bit of a late potato, so I grow Caribes for an early crop, and a few Russian Blues for a neighbour who does me favours that I can’t pay him for. I got this plot rototilled last fall, after harvest, so it is looking really good under the snow. I will rototill it again in the spring if possible (sometimes it’s difficult to do this if it is wet), and the potatoes go in ASAP. Usually early April. If we get a heavy frost, they will get frosted, and the green part will die down. But the “business end” of the plants are underground, and they will soon spout again, and all will be fine.
The fenced garden did not get rototilled this fall, we were still harvesting carrots daily until it all froze. So it will get rototilled when it thaws, maybe March. Then SOON after that, I start to put in the hardy stuff, peas go in first, snow and regular podded. Then onions, kale, broccoli, beets, carrots, cabbage and cauliflower. The carrots, I’ll often put some old planks over the seed for a few weeks to protect them as they are slow to germinate and not deep. The corn and bush beans go in last, mid to late May usually. Neighbours told me that “we can’t grow corn here”, but we have successfully got corn each year except one. I choose the earliest and most cold hardy seed, and it has usually done well when planted early enough to mature. The asparagus patch is always rampant, and I’ve dumped composted manure on it each spring for the last two years, but will give that a miss this year, since I’ve already used my composted manure elsewhere, as fill in some newly formed pasture, where I really needed it. The rhubarb also is always massive, both these grow well here. Got a strawberry patch successfully started last year and will add to it this year with a dozen more purchased plants. Got a raspberry patch also started last year, and it was just starting to “go viral” last fall. Got it under control, trimmed back and staked in two rows before freeze up. I hereby refuse to let it get bigger than two rows. Both these berries must be grown in the fenced garden because the deer really like eating the plants. I have had difficulty getting these two berry patches established, but they seem to be happier this time, so I hope we are past the starting stages now. So the four fenced sides of this garden are now taken up with the strawberry patch, the raspberry rows, and each type of pea- three of these using the fence as support. The rows through the middle of the garden are everything else, with the corn going in at the far end, the last planted. A gardener must take chances here, there is always the possibility that things will get frosted. But seed is cheap, and if I need to replant something that has been damaged, no problem! If I waited until all chance of frost was gone, nothing would have time to reach harvest. So I plant seed early and keep a optimistic attitude.
Manure piled this winter should get moved onto the fenced garden in the spring, but since all horses are still out on winter grazing, haven’t started a pile yet, so it may not be. The potato garden was originally built by dumping manure onto an old willow swamp for several years, digging and cutting the willows OUT, and expanding the area over a number of years, and rototilling it annually. There is a natural spring that bounds one side of this garden, so that is as far as I can go there. And manure has been going elsewhere for the last few years, filling more swampy areas, which is now levelled into a new small turnout grass area/hayfield next to our arena. Manure is very valuable here, so many spots where I need to use it.
NancyM…wow, just wow!!! Thankyou so much for sharing you garden story. It has left me awestruck.:eek: I just can’t imagine living and gardening like that. Here I grumble about how far north we are here. And if I didn’t have the family farm, I would move south in a second. I cant imagine frost and snow that late in the year. I have always wondered what BC is like. There is nothing like a first hand account from a real live horse person to listen to. You are amazing as is your tale of gardening. Honestly it is going to take a while for all of that to sink in. Frost in July!?!
And grocery stores are scarce. I can't imagine. I go to the store every day. Good thing you grow all those taters!
As far as manure being valuable. Your are darn right. We get asked if we have a pile someone can pillage from time to time. and people are really shocked when we say no we honesty don’t have a pile. We use all of it. 
Once again thank you for posting I love to hear of others gardening adventures.
It’s really that time of year when we cold-bound gardeners start browsing through seed catalogues. Online just isn’t the same.
Hulk: I’m starting to think my misadventure with manure was because I put fresh into a potted plant. Destroyed one of my favorite azaleas. I can see why tilling it into the ground would be the same as composting it.
We actually have a very old, manure spreader in the front yard as yard art. It was made for horses. Darn think is likely over one hundred now. We were determined to move it when we bought this place. Mom hired two guys with a flat-bed trailer. I thought it was going to fall apart. It sat on a slight slope. They started to push it and it just rolled down the slope to the trailer. All the chains and gears still work. It currently has a merry-go-round horse with antlers and a red rose mounted on it. On the 4th and other national holidays it sports the flag. Next week, for MLK Day, it will have Rudolph and the flag.
You guys are inspiring me to try vegetables again. The rabbits and squirrels are rooting me on. If I remember correctly, you plant pumpkins between the revolutions - as in July 4 and 14th - to have them ripe for Halloween. Yes/No?
I move the tender plants inside for winter. That’s succulents, cactus, palms, ficus, etc. Joint looks like a nursery this time of year. One year I had cherry tomatoes giving me fruit all the way into December. Not much, but some. This time of the year - the sun is low in the sky. It shines right into the south side of the house most of the day. That is where I have a lot of the plants. They will bloom in here.
I am enjoying this thread too!!
@Hulk , there are many different growing zones in BC. Just about 3/4 of an hour south of us, in the town of Ashcroft (another small town, but twice the size of our humble village), a huge vegetable farm of more than 1000 acres (“Desert Hills”) grows produce that is sold across Western Canada, including melons, peppers (both out in the field- not under glass). It is a lot like Southern California (I hear, have never been to Southern California), desert country. Ashcroft is HOT in the summer, and much warmer than us in the winter, and NO frost during growing season. But we are in the mountains here, and the altitude makes a huge difference in growing zones this far north. We are on the same latitude as Calgary. During growing season, Desert Hills has a farm outlet, for produce that was over harvested to fit the huge transport trucks that they send out of there. It is for sale at farm prices, about 1/4 of what it is sold for commercially. So I can go there for stuff I can’t grow here. But of course, it is not grown organically like my gardens are. But it is hard to resist when you see a tractor and wagon full of watermelons being brought in from the fields right past you.
LOL yes, it took a bit of getting used to about the lack of grocery stores in a small, semi remote village. There is one in the village, but we don’t shop there. It’s a gas station basically, with a few bins of tired and soggy vegetables, offered to the sad village residents who can not travel out of town to shop, and double normal grocery store prices. A gallon of milk purchased in this store will cost ya more than $8. We shop at Costco (1 1/2 hours away) for most of our necessities, twice a month, and have three freezers. And we eat a lot of potatoes!! We luv Costco.
TCA arabs… My thing I guess is really pumpkins and winter squash. I usually put in around 30 varieties a year. Oh I plant other things, but my big push and what gives me the biggest rush is pumpkins. So as far as flowers yeah I dabble with them some, so your poor Azalea well IDK I probably would have done the same and burnt the roots too! :lol: As far as when to plant pumpkins I plant them on memorial day to have them ready for Halloween.
Oh garden seed catalogues.......um yeah....that's a problem in this household. I have a stack I pour through again and again. I have charts with the veggie in question, which supplier I am buying from (color coded) how much seed I want of each variety, how much it costs. So basically I end up with a stack of Hulk made order forms to keep me straight when I do order. Then I honestly do try to keep the costs somewhat in check. And then I fail miserably at that. Oh yes seed catalogues, tis the season.
The manure spreader: I love it. Seriously though, I got into a huge blow out with my uncle over an old horse driven hay rake. I wanted it for my front yard. He won the skuffle and it has been sitting up in his woods for the last 20 years. He might let me have it at this point, perhaps I should ask.
I am enjoying this thread a ton too.!:encouragement:
NancyM… I don’t blame you at all for hitting up that Desert Hills place for produce. I would too. I am in the same boat. I grow organically but the super nice farmer guy up the road grows sweet corn, hey what can I say, can’t drive by that. Plus I dearly love to chat with him, he is one cool old cat. I also buy hay from him. I think I am his best customer. And he is just so nice and he and his hay crew bend over backwards for me. And they really don’t have to but the do.
I love Costco too. We have one that is like 20 mins away. I love buying in bulk. But even so I still go to the grocery store everyday.:ambivalence: I would buy a dang cow if milk was 8 bucks a gallon.:eek: We drink a gallon a day. We have recently switched to organic which is 5 bucks a gallon as opposed to 2 bucks for regular. My hormones have been going crazy mad lately and I thought it was just being 50 yrs old and the change. So the lady at the health food store told me to try going organic on the milk because of my copious intake. So far so good. I am feeling better.
Zone 5, growing up my parents had a commercial greenhouse and Memorial Day weekend was our big rush. But it’s been several years since we had a frost in May. Nowadays, I plant tomatoes out by the second week in May and of course peas and carrots go in much earlier. My garden season starts April 1st
Smart Alex… Your parents had a commercial greenhouse?:eek: How cool is that?:yes: I can see memorial day being a big rush. I live in PA not really that far from WNY and yeah memorial day is big around here as well. I guess it is when things really start rocking. I do have to get it together and get my carrots and beets in earlier. I just hold back it seems because I prioritize my pumpkin crops and stick other things in after my pumpkins are seen to. But this year I have plans for a rototiller that hooks on to the back of the tractor so I can be limitless. If I get that, I can plant away till the cows come home.
You do that too? I start with a Pinterest board of the old sand-by varieties and the new varieties for this year. Then I go to my spreadsheet which shows what I’ve bought from which company. Then I try to optimize the shipping charges. I like to get it done ahead of time so when special offers start showing up in my emails I can take advantage of them. I love that the Burpee site has a Wish List feature!
VERY Cool! Little wonder that my favorite color is green. For several years we lived in an apartment off the back and our kitchen window looked out into the geranium house. The whole thing was circa 1930s with glass paned houses and steam pipes. And my grandfather also has a greenhouse in KY. After he retired from teaching he went into hothouse tomatoes full time. And he had the town produce stand. A big orchard, apples, peaches, plums. Raised melons, sweet corn, tobacco etc. Dome the month of May you can’t keep me out of the greenhouses. I probably spend my lunch hour in one at least three days a week.
[ATTACH=JSON]{“data-align”:“none”,“data-size”:“full”,“title”:“Busti Greenhouse.jpg”,“data-attachmentid”:10310772}[/ATTACH]
[ATTACH=JSON]{“data-align”:“none”,“data-size”:“full”,“title”:“Busti Greenhouse Arial 1982.jpg”,“data-attachmentid”:10310773}[/ATTACH]
[ATTACH=JSON]{“data-align”:“none”,“data-size”:“full”,“title”:“Busti Greenhouse Salesroom.jpg”,“data-attachmentid”:10310774}[/ATTACH]
[ATTACH=JSON]{“data-align”:“none”,“data-size”:“full”,“title”:“1976.jpg”,“data-attachmentid”:10310776}[/ATTACH]
[ATTACH=JSON]{“data-align”:“none”,“data-size”:“full”,“title”:“Main House 74-75.jpg”,“data-attachmentid”:10310775}[/ATTACH]
Smart Alex…Yes I do that too. You see the problem for me is if my regular company doesn’t have something I can’t live without, I search until it is found. Then you see that is compounded by the problem of there are many things I just can’t live without. And you have to cross reference with the internet site of each seed company, because sometimes the variety is available on line but not in the catalogue. So yeah if you think about it, we are talking hours of research. And when you do finally sit down to order ( I do mine on line) you have your manure together. Because can you imagine the disappointment if you should forget something. 
Smart Alex… that is just so cool. I can’t thank you enough for that wonderful share. What a wonderful childhood watching geraniums grow. 
And greenhouses make my heart sing so I can totally see lunch break visits. And a grandfather with a greenhouse in KY, I would have gone nuts over that as a kid.
My favorite lettuce mixes are from Renee’s Garden. I rarely order anything else from her except maybe some eggplants or a flower mix. It pains me to pay postage on three packets of lettuce seed, but I prefer them so much it’s just easier to do it and get it over with! :yes: After that, I try to stick with just Johnny’s and Burpee, but I often order odds and ends from Park, Gurney’s, Baker Creek and the list goes on :tickled_pink:
Another benefit of growing up in a greenhouse: The seed salesmen come to you!!! My favorite salesman was from Ball Seed. We had one of their seed displays set up and I almost always had a packet of seeds in the front pocket of my OshGoshes.
My problem with having something I just can’t live without extends into buying from the nurseries. I have to have Happy Hour portulaca, not Sundial or Sunseeker. I have to have Durango Mix marigolds. And with the changeability of the nursery choices, I sometimes have to search through five or six greenhouses to find exactly what I want or enough of what I want. But it’s always fun to find a new variety I’ve seen in the catalogs because unless you order it and grow it yourself you can never be guaranteed that you’re going to ever see it.
SmartAlex… You ever just have one of those days where you are walking along this path called life and wham, you just by chance meet someone that speaks your language.!? Yeah I think that just happened. :o
I started this thread because I will admit winter really gets me down and I needed some thing to cheer me up and think about. I must say all of the posts have been pure joy. To be able to talk with others that understand that there is more than one kind of sunflower is kind of cool, and liberating.
And I get it that only a certain variety of something will do. It is an endless trip down the rabbit hole. For example: I like my french market pumpkins for pies, and I like black futsu for straight up eating, and blue Hubbard for a big flavorful bowl of mashed squash on the table, and candy roasters for a sweet potato presentation, and Australian butters for squash casserole, and the list is endless. so technically yeah you could use just a butternut for all of that, but to use a certain type of squash more suited to the recipe takes it to a whole nother level.
Now as to your childhood memories of the seed salesman and the slipping you a seed packet or two, wow what a childhood. I can see how one like yourself could have developed the need for a diverse supply of seeds. It is not your fault really. How can you help it if you need this marigold from Gurneys, and that cucumber from Baker Creek? You have been conditioned since childhood, from the sounds of things.:lol: I tend to put my big order in with Baker Creek and then get the few stragglers though various other places. Like this year I think I might put in more craving pumpkins than usual just for fun. Since I really have my eyes on that rototiller. So I will most likely find a source other than Baker Creek for them. Love my Baker Creek but a girls gotta do what a girls gotta do.
Twins from different mothers!
Even apart from wanting a specific variety, there is a lot to be said about realizing a particular variety does well in your microclimate. I have a lot of trouble with powdery mildew. I’ve found a zucchini hybrid and a cucumber hybrid that Johnny’s sells that do really really well in that respect, so every year I stick to those. My next door neighbors on the other hand - They’ve been gardening for decades and still the fact that there might be variations in varieties has eluded them. When they complain about a certain crop failure I’ll ask them what variety they planted this year and they’ll say “the one from XYZ Greenhouse” Can you say fingernails|chalkboard? O.M.G. So one year I suggested that they NOT plant zucchini and I would plant extra zucchini and tend to it and give them all the squash they want. Anything to keep their lousy powdery mildew from coming over to my garden!
One of the real satisfying funnies was this past summer. I always plant a Durango marigold at each corner of each of my raised beds. In fact, I used to plant Safari mix, but one year those neighbors had the Durango and I was so impressed with their size and vigor I’ve planted them exclusively ever since. And they’re gorgeous. Well one day the neighbor had his elbows hung on the top of my garden fence giving the garden report. He said “the only thing I’m not happy with is the whats-its (he points to my huge bushy marigolds). Ours don’t seem to be growing very well this year.”
I couldn’t resist. “Because yours are Janie, not Durango. You got all of your plants at Brigotta’s again this year right? The only marigold Brigotta’s sold this year were Janie Yellow and Janie Gold. Janie is a dwarf variety. They’re supposed to stay small like that.”
Blank stare.
Sigh
Burpee’s arrived yesterday! Bliss!
For those of you that remember the Dewey Decimal System - I had an old, library catalogue cabinet. Tons of little drawers. My seeds were all labeled and organized.
We have a wholesale nursery here that has become my haunt. Put in some dormant bushes that are native last year. All are doing splendid. For those of you in the Southwest - the Theodore Payne Nursery in Sunland, Ca. sells seeds online.
