The gardeners thread: What are you growing?

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PeteC
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The gardeners thread: What are you growing?

Post by PeteC »

Anyone have an in-ground or in-pot vegetable and/or herb garden growing? If so what have you been successful with, and what are you doing to keep the critters and insects from destroying things? Hope we can discover some non-pesticide solutions? Pete :cheers:
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Re: What are you growing?

Post by Dannie Boy »

I have very mixed results, probably more misses than hits, although today I will be eating home grown beetroot which I. Have grown about three times quite successfully. I have really struggled with cucumbers and tomatoes have been so so, although these were a success. May be because I use seeds bought in the UK?
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Re: What are you growing?

Post by PeteC »

That looks like a good garden! :D

What kind of soil layers do you have Dannie, and how deep are they?

Second, have you had to spray them to keep the bugs from feasting, or netting? I've got a bird problem here as well. They eat everything from Mangos on the trees, bananas on the stalks, and just about everything else.

I think your dirt must be better than mine over here. I have a junk top soil mix of the non-black variety for about 6", hard pan clay for 2', then sand forever. :( Pete :cheers:
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Re: What are you growing?

Post by migrant »

I'm here in California and the MIL has made a garden out of much of the back yard (no complaints!)

We have a snail/bug problem so I tried something I read about.

I smoke a few cigars a week so took the butts, mixed with water, and sprayed the bushes. Voila, no more problems, and an easy organic clean up!
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Re: What are you growing?

Post by PeteC »

^ It's the nicotine that soaks out into the water. Age old pesticide, but organic. :D Pete
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Re: What are you growing?

Post by Dannie Boy »

prcscct wrote:That looks like a good garden! :D

What kind of soil layers do you have Dannie, and how deep are they?

Second, have you had to spray them to keep the bugs from feasting, or netting? I've got a bird problem here as well. They eat everything from Mangos on the trees, bananas on the stalks, and just about everything else.

I think your dirt must be better than mine over here. I have a junk top soil mix of the non-black variety for about 6", hard pan clay for 2', then sand forever. :( Pete :cheers:
When we raised the soil level, I tried to get the best soil I could although it's variable. I have also added horse and cow manure which has helped. I try not to spray, but a while ago I had some healthy looking cucumber plants that got attacked by hundreds if not thousands of very tiny insects - I sprayed with a general purpose bug killer and although the plants seems to have survived, they don't look as though they are going to bear fruit so will probably have to pull them up and sow again.
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Re: What are you growing?

Post by jingjoe »

i have just started a small garden using those half pipe cement containers that they use for waste tanks,im composting my own soil and growing heirloom lettuce, eggplants and beans.The lettuces are successful and quite tasty.
I use milk mixed with water as a pesticide,i read somewhere that insects can't digest milk because they don't have a pancreas..so far so good
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Re: What are you growing?

Post by hhfarang »

When we had our own garden we had mangos, coconuts, and sumo that I ate/drank. There were a few other things that the Thai family ate. Even in Florida, my wife somehow got her sister to send her seeds to grow mango and papaya and they were very good.
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Re: What are you growing?

Post by Bamboo Grove »

and sumo that I ate/drank
Goodness, gracious, you have a mighty appetite. :shock:
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Re: What are you growing?

Post by hhfarang »

Well, how do you spell that grapefruit like thingy they grow here.
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Re: What are you growing?

Post by Bamboo Grove »

Ah ok, got it. Som Oh
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Re: What are you growing?

Post by PeteC »

jingjoe wrote:i have just started a small garden using those half pipe cement containers that they use for waste tanks,...........
I'm going to have to use something like that, or go for the big job like Dannie did and refill the yard with top soil. My soil is just too poor to produce much of anything, except weeds of course. :(

I can understand Dannie's beetroot doing well regardless of the soil as it's the same family as the cassava root grown on every available patch of land here for gasohol. I'm sure you've seen them harvest the stuff, then they simply cut off the stalk, stick it back into the ground and it grows again, even in the dry season with no water. :shock: The only fertilizer is a one time application of chicken manure which stinks up the place for miles around. :laugh: Pete :cheers:

EDIT: When I say 'family" above I mean a root vegetable, not the same scientifically named family. Beetroot is Chenopodioideae, and cassava is Euphorbiaceae
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Re: What are you growing?

Post by Big Boy »

Opposite my house is a huge area of undeveloped land, which several of our neighbours have cultivated a small area (with the owners permission). They have done nothing special - just cleared what was already growing there.

Produce off this small patch feeds most of our road, and friends of the lady whose idea it was. Any excess is sold to market traders. Produce includes:

Lemon Grass
Papaya
Banana
Aubergines (many varieties)
Basil
Ginger (or whatever they call it here)
Melons
Cucumber
Tomatoes
Onions
Shallots
Lime leaves
and loads more..........................

All they do it weed the plot regularly, and keep it well watered. They do get the odd insect attack, but they simply remove the affected crops and start again.

The thing that never fails to amaze me is the speed with which this stuff grows here. A small seedling today is a huge bush within weeks.

A sad indication of the quality of the soil here........ A couple of weeks ago, one of our dogs caught and killed a cat. My wife decided to bury the cat. The ground was so hard it was almost impossible to dig a deep enough hole, and the cat was only half buried. My wife had to gather soil from elsewhere to cover the cat, and then placed stones over the top to stop animals digging it up.
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Re: What are you growing?

Post by migrant »

I made raised beds using 2x8's and filling with soil. Can be placed anywhere, easy to weed.
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Re: What are you growing?

Post by Dannie Boy »

As well as sowing directly into the ground, I have also started sowing into the 1 metre concrete water sleeves. Below are beetroot and French Beans in the sleeves and pumpkins grown direct in the soil
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