# Anyone want an ongoing gardening thread? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 14, 2010, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-want-an-ongoing-gardening-thread/539442 "2010-05-14T16:04:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 12
**Author:** ![Wile\_E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c37758/32.png) [@Wile\_E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wile_E)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2010, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-want-an-ongoing-gardening-thread/539442/221 "2010-06-11T17:42:49Z")
I am about to take the nuke 'em from orbit approach to my lubber grasshoppers. I pick off and squish a few every day, only to find more the next day. I don’t like killing things but I’ve made an exception for these bugs. There are huge chewed up spots on most of my plants. I can’t go the insectcide route because it would take too much to put a dent in these things and a lot of beneficial insects would die. I’d like to attract butterflies so I can’t use insecticides. I’m hoping that if I kill enough adults before they breed there will be less next year. But it would be nice if there were some sort of natural repellent I could use. I’m going to try to put my avocado seedlings in an old bird cage to try and keep those things off them for now. ---
**Author:** ![Perciful](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/b38774/32.png) [@Perciful](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Perciful)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2010, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-want-an-ongoing-gardening-thread/539442/222 "2010-06-11T19:16:41Z")
> [@singular1](#): > > Are you putting squash in your tomato sauce? What does that do to taste and texture? Sounds like a great way to use up extra veg at the end of the season. > And I’m still eating for an answer to my beans on the tomato cage question, please… I use zucchini because yellow squash would just get mushy. I dice it and throw it in and it is very good. I have grown green beans up the tomato cages. Just hand some string and get them climbing. If you palnt a few green bean seeds two weeks apart they will come all summer. Good Luck! ---
**Author:** ![Perciful](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/b38774/32.png) [@Perciful](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Perciful)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2010, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-want-an-ongoing-gardening-thread/539442/223 "2010-06-11T19:20:54Z")
I have been doing a lot of research on noxious weeds with deep taproots and I was doing it wrong! Digging them up disperses them. The only thing other dumping a load of phosphate on them is overseeding with wildflowers or grass and crowding them out. So I am going to try that and at least it will be pretty. ---
**Author:** ![Labrador\_Deceiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7c8e57/32.png) [@Labrador\_Deceiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labrador_Deceiver)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2010, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-want-an-ongoing-gardening-thread/539442/224 "2010-06-11T19:53:17Z")
> [@Cowgirl\_Jules](#): > > Well, try it and see, and let us know how it works out for you! > > I’d think the tomato and the beans would get to competing too hard for light. My tomatoes get huge, and the interiors don’t have a ton of leaves because the light in there is blocked. I’m not sure about tomatoes, but I know a lot of folks who plant their beans in with the corn. It saves a ton of space, and the beans grow right up the corn. They don’t seem to want for sun using that method. ---
**Author:** ![Wile\_E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c37758/32.png) [@Wile\_E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wile_E)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2010, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-want-an-ongoing-gardening-thread/539442/225 "2010-06-11T19:57:32Z")
> [@Labrador\_Deceiver](#): > > I’m not sure about tomatoes, but I know a lot of folks who plant their beans in with the corn. It saves a ton of space, and the beans grow right up the corn. They don’t seem to want for sun using that method. I’ve read about Three Sisters planting, corn, beans and squash. They are supposed to work well together. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2010, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-want-an-ongoing-gardening-thread/539442/226 "2010-06-11T21:32:38Z")
> [@singular1](#): > > Are you putting squash in your tomato sauce? What does that do to taste and texture? Sounds like a great way to use up extra veg at the end of the season. > And I’m still eating for an answer to my beans on the tomato cage question, please… It makes for a very thick sauce, which can be thinned if you wish with bottled spaghetti sauce, or used by itself on top of pasta. It is not so different from regular tomato sauce with veggies, except much thicker. As for your question, I only short term things close to long term things - like radishes and beans, or lettuce and eggplant. Both my beans and tomatoes last a long time. In any case, harvesting would be a mess, since I’d worry about knocking off tomatoes when I get beans and vice versa. It is hard enough to get all the stuff inside some times as it is. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2010, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-want-an-ongoing-gardening-thread/539442/227 "2010-06-11T21:37:07Z")
> [@Perciful](#): > > I use zucchini because yellow squash would just get mushy. I dice it and throw it in and it is very good. I don’t grow yellow squash, but we’ve done this with zucchini, eight-ball squash (which I like quite a bit) and French zucchini. When our 8 balls are going good, we sometimes lose one for a while, and discover it when it is about a foot in diameter. This can be saved. Cut it in two, hollow it out, reserving the contents, and make an insides of the squash, tomato or spaghetti sauce, and either ground beef or sausage. Cook the insides, and then put it into the hollowed out shell and bake. (How long depends on the size.) You get a dish where you can eat the bowl, like a bread bowl with claim chowder, but healthier. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2010, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-want-an-ongoing-gardening-thread/539442/228 "2010-06-12T01:55:32Z")
What is an eight ball squash? ---
**Author:** ![singular1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ba9def/32.png) [@singular1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/singular1)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2010, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-want-an-ongoing-gardening-thread/539442/229 "2010-06-12T16:29:00Z")
They are wonderful perfectly round zucchini. I’m planting some seeds this weekend, since I couldn’t find starts. Thanks for all the answers, everybody! I’ll try the bean thing on a couple tomatoes and a couple stalks of corn, and I can’t wait to try the zuchinni in my tomato sauce! I got three lemon cucumber starts and one yellow squash start in the garden this morning. Lemon cukes are really tasty and we like to eat them like pears! ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2010, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-want-an-ongoing-gardening-thread/539442/230 "2010-06-12T16:36:18Z")
My cucumbers aren’t coming up at all. I might try a different variety, or just give up on them. I haven’t had luck with them in the past, either (we got one tiny little gherkin last time). Our transplanted rose has two shoots now! We had given up on it, and this feels like such a bonus. The sweet peas are finally coming up now, too. ---
**Author:** ![singular1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ba9def/32.png) [@singular1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/singular1)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2010, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-want-an-ongoing-gardening-thread/539442/231 "2010-06-12T17:31:14Z")
Try the lemon cukes! They grow very fast and have a most excellent yield. Last year we had a net strung between two uprights, and they climb up quite nicely. We gave away quite a few because we got so many cukes from it. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2010, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-want-an-ongoing-gardening-thread/539442/232 "2010-06-12T17:36:05Z")
I’ll see if I can find them at the greenhouse seed section. ---
**Author:** ![Perciful](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/b38774/32.png) [@Perciful](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Perciful)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2010, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-want-an-ongoing-gardening-thread/539442/233 "2010-06-13T14:34:33Z")
I went to home depot yesterday and spent to much money. I have a love/ hate relationship with home depot. I love the place but it bleeds my wallet. If you live in my area you pronounce it, home depp oh. I think it should be pronounced “home deep poe” but I get sick of being corrected. I got a new hose, buy one get one free and a box to store it in. Some wildflower seeds, a rose bush and a Roto half off. That is what I remember but it was like 60 bucks, ouch. It rained on my day off but I did manage to get the hoses hooked up and routed a hose off the bathroom washer to the garden out back. Now I just need a day off with some sun to get er done. I have never had luck with cukes so if that new kind works for someone in zone 4 give a shout. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2010, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-want-an-ongoing-gardening-thread/539442/234 "2010-06-13T16:01:20Z")
Well, we’re Zone 3 here, so if it works out for me, it should be fine for you. I don’t know if zones really matter for veggies, anyway, since they’re all annuals basically. What really matters in Calgary is our short growing season - corn is completely out (unless you just want to plant it for looks - it doesn’t have anywhere long enough to make proper ears). Going a little further out of the foothills and you’re in some of the best corn growing territory in Canada (around Taber, Alberta), but our altitude makes things more difficult here. I plan my garden vegetables by the shortest growing seasons. Hey, I just learned that Devin Setoguchi of the San Jose Sharks is from Taber! ---
**Author:** ![Perciful](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/b38774/32.png) [@Perciful](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Perciful)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2010, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-want-an-ongoing-gardening-thread/539442/235 "2010-06-15T13:26:18Z")
I did it!!! I finally got the garden overseeded with wildflowers and peat moss yesterday. I’m so tired but good tired. Garden tired is ok. My client had me do some landscaping and spent two hours pulling vines off of her side trees and bushes. Cut and pull, cut and pull. Then I had to dump all the vines in the drop off area. I have to take pics of the drop off area. it is the coolest place. It is an old river bed gone wild and looks prehistoric with all the growth. We made a water supply a hundred years ago and this river died off. Well gotta go to work for now. I’m glad I got the garden seeded since it’s almost July! ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2010, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-want-an-ongoing-gardening-thread/539442/236 "2010-06-15T16:56:11Z")
Hmm, no luck on the lemon cucumbers so far. I might see if there are any cucumber plants available; maybe cucumbers from seed isn’t going to work here. Still haven’t got my tomato plants. ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2010, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-want-an-ongoing-gardening-thread/539442/237 "2010-06-15T19:12:34Z")
I’m hoping someone can tell me what [this](http://www.flickr.com/photos/50335468@N03/4704155448/sizes/l/) is. It was planted by the previous owner but so frost damaged that I cut it all the way to the ground. I’d never seen anything like it, big smooth celery-like stalks, so I left it out of curiosity. What a pleasant surprise to see such huge, red flowers and it’s loaded with buds so we’ll be enjoying the color for some time to come. Its leaves looked kinda Hibiscus-like but the stems are fibrous instead of woody. It’s probably about four and a half feet tall. **Perciful** , here’s some more of the [Chinese Hat](http://www.flickr.com/photos/50335468@N03/4703516037/) and [Bleeding Heart](http://www.flickr.com/photos/50335468@N03/4704155576/sizes/l/in/photostream/). ---
**Author:** ![Stoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stoid/32/272_2.png) [@Stoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stoid)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2010, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-want-an-ongoing-gardening-thread/539442/238 "2010-06-15T20:38:30Z")
Is it just mine, or is it pretty normal for tomato plants to be ratty looking around the bottom leaves? My plants could be photographed for a magazine, except for that. And it always happens, without fail. ---
**Author:** ![Stoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stoid/32/272_2.png) [@Stoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stoid)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2010, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-want-an-ongoing-gardening-thread/539442/239 "2010-06-15T20:39:42Z")
> [@Cat\_Whisperer](#): > > Hmm, no luck on the lemon cucumbers so far. I might see if there are any cucumber plants available; maybe cucumbers from seed isn’t going to work here. Still haven’t got my tomato plants. I LOVE lemon cukes! The best! I guess I should consider myself lucky - I just tossed the seeds in a pot and bam… no sweat. That was last year, though, i wish now I’d planted them this year. ---
**Author:** ![Cicero](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cicero/32/3594_2.png) [@Cicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cicero)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2010, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-want-an-ongoing-gardening-thread/539442/240 "2010-06-16T00:41:09Z")
We’ve had two days of rain, which while great, didn’t allow me to do a great deal. The things that have survived the best have been the marigolds growing beside the letter box. It has always been difficult to grow things there but I nurtured these and they were my pride and joy. This morning I looked out and some little bastards on their way to school were pulling them out and jumping on them. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-want-an-ongoing-gardening-thread/539442.md?page=11) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-want-an-ongoing-gardening-thread/539442.md?page=13)