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let's see your veggie garden {pics}

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deluxestogie

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deluxestogie

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Chicago Garden Beds

Before there was a Chicago, that heavily forested area was called "chicagoua" by the local Miami Indians. It was named for the extensive growth of a local garlic (Allium tricoccum) beneath the mature maple trees. [Here in Appalachia, Allium tricoccum is called a "ramp," and is truly stinky.]

Since my Anka garlic (from rainmax) was small last year, and after being informed by rainmax that I needed to allow it to mature longer, prior to harvest, I set this year's Anka garlic last November at a wider spacing, and I will be more patient.

Garden20170430_2588_AnkaGarlicBed_500.jpg


At the same time in early November, I set my Czech Broadleaf garlic, which is a softneck variety (so I can braid it), as well as about 20 North Georgia Sweet Onions. All were buried beneath about 8 to 10 inches of dead pine needles, as a mulch against winter cold.

Garden20170430_2587_OnionGarlicBed_500.jpg


Well, this isn't north Georgia. Only two of the supposedly massive onions survived. Mulch has been cleared from them. Despite a diligent search beneath the mulch, there was not a trace of the other onions. Nothing. Completely MIA. I'll just have to wait to see if the two that made it reach their vaunted size.

Bob

EDIT: I should add that onions are classed as "short day" and "long day" and "intermediate." I have never paid much attention to that, since I usually just plant onion sets to grow for salads. If I'm lazy, then I later harvest some small to medium onion bulbs for winter use in cooking.

I should also confess that I have no clue about whether or not I should be trying short day or long day or whatever day onions.

EDIT 2:
From bonnieplants.com
  • In the North (the area north of a line drawn from San Francisco to Washington, D.C.), summer days are long. This region encompasses zone 6 and colder. If you garden in this area, grow long-day onions.
  • In the South, summer days don’t vary as much in length from winter ones. This region includes zone 7 and warmer. If you garden in this area, grow short-day onions.
  • Day-neutral (sometimes called intermediate) onions form bulbs in any zone, but are especially suited for gardeners in zones 5 and 6.
 

greenmonster714

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That garlic looks great. I will have to plan out something this fall and get some going for next year.

About those ramps. When I was in Ohio we used to pick them and use them for cooking. Spot on when ya say they stink. After eating anything with them in it you stink for a few days. Its like garlic funk times 2..lol.
 

SmokesAhoy

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Yeah long day onions. I tried growing out store bought onions and they of course grew but must have been from the south because they never bulb out much due to the light thing. They make great green onions and are kind of invasive in the area I planted so green onions always seem to be coming up there. Kids love foraging on them.

I've searched for ramps but never found any, the two mentions above regarding being so stinky make me want to find them even more than ever now.
 

greenmonster714

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Ramps will ward off all intestinal parasites, remove armpit hair, cure UTI's, and sand blast the bowels. If symptoms of nausea, vomiting, blurred vision, irregular heartbeat, or you cause others to stop breathing seek medical attention right away. You are toxic and need treatment.
 

ChinaVoodoo

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I planted my onions yesterday. I started them from seed this year because I read that, started early, seed onions do better than set onions. I'm growing an intermediate onion, Zoey, and a long day onion, Ailsa Craig. I don't really knew what that means for onions. I thought the long/short day paradigm for plants referred to flowering. If you want flowering in a short day plant but live in a long day zone, the plants might not flower until late in the season when the days get shorter. Or if you had long day plants in a short day zone, they might flower early.

The Ailsa Craig onions supposedly get up to 5lbs if grown in a greenhouse, which I'm not doing, but I'm excited to see how big they'll get.
 

rainmax

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I have some potatoes this year

2017-05-07-195032.jpg


A lot of garlic Anka of course.

2017-05-07-195017.jpg



2017-05-07-195131.jpg


..and this is how my garden looks right now...
 

deluxestogie

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I count exactly 365 heads of garlic--52 rows of 7 heads each, plus that extra one. Sometimes my imagination influences my objectivity. But I definitely see garlic potatoes in your future.

Bob
 

rainmax

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I count exactly 365 heads of garlic--52 rows of 7 heads each, plus that extra one. Sometimes my imagination influences my objectivity. But I definitely see garlic potatoes in your future.

Bob


It is something like that. I was counting 365 days and each day one head of garlic and I eded up with about 400 garlics + another 365 from seeds for next year. Definitely I will have it enough for my family and some spares.
I see that greenmonster wants to go with garlic next year, so I wanted to be prepared with some extra seeds.
Garlic is definitely one of my best veggies to grow.
 

deluxestogie

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Since garlic is planted in the fall, it gives our spring vegetable gardens a head start and a promising appearance. Plus, once they're in the ground, nearly all the work of growing it is done.

Bob
 

rainmax

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Nearly. Don't forget digging and loosening the soil if you want big heads. Also watering and cooling helps a lot when it is really hot.
 

deluxestogie

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My Pole Beans Better Grow

I originally ordered "Genuine Cornfield Pole Beans" from Southern Exposure to plant among my super-tall corn this year. They are specifically shade tolerant, to grow well with corn. But I decided that I didn't want to cause any competition with the growth of the corn. So instead, I chose to plant the pole beans in the little bed at the corner of my front porch.

Garden20170513_2623_beanTrellis_entire_400.jpg


The ground is two feet below the floor of the porch. My expectation is to have a wall of bean plants shading the porch by mid-summer. I rigged a 6' bamboo tomato stake with 10 cable ties tightly drawn to the stake, each holding another cable tie for the top anchor of the string.

Garden20170513_2625_beanTrellis_cableTies_400.jpg


All the cable ties were attached before placing the bamboo into the wrought iron of the porch support. 10' strings were added. Then the mid-point of the bamboo was securely tied to the iron.

Garden20170513_2628_beanTrellis_tieToIron_400.jpg


Near each of the 10 bean plants, a steel tent stake was inserted into the soil, and used as the bottom anchors for the 10 strings.

Garden20170513_2626_beanTrellis_tentStake_400.jpg


While each string is attached at the top with a bowline knot (that will not slip), the bottom is attached using a tautline hitch, which will slide up the string to adjust its tension, and will then stay put. (This is the same knot used for staking a tent.)

Garden20170513_2627_beanTrellis_tautline_400.jpg


It's all canted to allow the beans to get maximum sunlight. Now, I have to wait for the beans to grow, so this whole string thing no longer looks quite so silly. [I think that removing the strings from the string beans produced by 10 plants is right at my maximum.]

Bob
 

ChinaVoodoo

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While we're taking about beans. I haven't grown pole beans for a long time. I plan on growing them in a square 3'x3' raised bed. I thought I would make a four pole teepee, one in each corner, and plant beans in each corner. Is that ok? Should I adapt my teepee in some way?
 

deluxestogie

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Probably 2 or 3 bean stalks per pole or string would be a maximum to avoid them shading one another too much. (I'd plant the seeds at least 8" apart, and plant extras in the same vicinity. You'll have to pull-up any extras that sprout.) A bamboo tee-pee made of 6 to 8 foot-long poles should do the job. You could also drop a string down the middle, to have an additional vertical.

All plants circumnutate at the growing end. (That is to say, that they swirl in a circle, in addition to moving to face the sun as it traverses the sky.) Climbing plants will bend toward the point of contact to encircle an encountered vertical, whereas non-climbers will attempt to avoid a vertical or barrier by bending away from it.

Just this morning, I was lifting a circular cage of wire fence that I've used on various veggie beds over the years. Weeds had grown up around it during the winter. I noted a honeysuckle vine that had twisted itself around a vertical so tightly that it managed 360 degrees about every inch of height gained.

Pole beans (not bush beans) are poor neighbors, and tend to inhibit the growth of other veggies. So it's not a great candidate for companion gardening, with a few exceptions.

MotherEarthNews.com: An In-Depth Companion Planting Guide. 1981 said:
Beans, Bush
Plant near: beets, cabbage, carrots, catnip, cauliflower, corn, cucumbers, marigolds, potatoes, savory, strawberries
Keep away from: fennel, garlic, leeks, onions, shallots
Comments: potatoes and marigolds repel Mexican bean beetles. Catnip repels flea beetles.

Beans, Pole
Plant near: corn, marigolds, potatoes, radishes
Keep away from: beets, garlic, kohlrabi, leeks, onions, shallots
Comments: same as for bush beans.

http://www.motherearthnews.com/organic-gardening/companion-planting-guide-zmaz81mjzraw

My experience with companion planting over the years is that the beneficial combinations are helpful, but to a degree that is fairly marginal, and not worth extraordinary effort to implement. The "keep away from" recommendations seem to be more worthwhile for avoiding growth inhibition of one plant or the other.

On the subject of companion planting, if you have limited veggie space, you can plant leaf lettuce, radishes and carrots interspersed closely in the same small space. The radishes come out of the ground early, the carrots go deep with their roots, and the lettuce likes them both.

Trellising cucumbers (for other than the bush varieties) is usually helpful, and can result in the long cucumbers growing straighter. I've never had cukes climb higher than about 3 feet. A small tomato cage or a section of box fence supported by a couple of tomato stakes will usually do the job.

Bob
 
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