# The SDMB 2016 Gardening Thread **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 4, 2016, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sdmb-2016-gardening-thread/742126 "2016-01-04T03:50:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Eva\_Luna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e495f1/32.png) [@Eva\_Luna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eva_Luna)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2016, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sdmb-2016-gardening-thread/742126/61 "2016-05-16T02:36:25Z")
Accomplished today: one 15’ long, 5’ high trellis made of 3/4" electrical conduit and nylon netting. Much easier to put together than the trellises we made last year out of strips of wood reinforced with metal corner brackets and chicken wire, and bonus! No need for drilling, and no need to wear leather work gloves to keep the chicken wire from cutting up hands! Now if it would just get warm enough to plant the stuff that’s going to climb the trellises… ---
**Author:** ![quiltguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e47774/32.png) [@quiltguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/quiltguy)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2016, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sdmb-2016-gardening-thread/742126/62 "2016-05-16T21:39:34Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > The snails I’ve had weren’t bad, but not something I’d to great effort for, either. On the other hand, if I was dependent on my garden for survival and snails showed up I’d have no problems cultivating the protein. > > (I had snails in France, cultivated by a gentleman who fed his on lettuce. So… very fresh, live that morning and dinner than evening.) I’d prefer how the ancient Romans fed their snails: red wine and bay leaves. Genius! 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2016, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sdmb-2016-gardening-thread/742126/63 "2016-06-02T19:36:42Z")
My composting service gives me lovely rich compost in exchange for garbage (well, to be strictly truthful, in exchange for garbage and money). And this morning, the very day I decided that I really couldn’t put off any longer getting my vegetable garden fenced and planted, they dropped off FOUR HUMONGOUS SACKS of the stuff for me!🙂 So now my stakes are driven and my fence is up (and I’m bleeding in spots: nasty wire pricklies), my brick border is finished, my yummy amended topsoil (which, let’s face it, it still mostly clinkery Hudson River Valley clay but a hell of a lot better than it was), is dug in and raked over. And my tomato seedlings and cucumber, squash and lettuce seeds are safely planted in the fenced part where the bunnies can’t get 'em. The rainbow chard is in the part outside the fence because I don’t care if the bunnies get some of 'em. By the way, I was wondering about having planted the cukes and the winter squash not very far from each other. That won’t affect anything about **this** year’s crop, right? It just means that the two cucurbit cousins might cross-pollinate a bit and the seed for subsequent generations might not breed true. But I’m not planning to save seed from these plants anyway, so I needn’t care? And in other news, my new Incarvillea (hardy gloxinias) are up and (mostly) blooming like a champ, my median-strip “beautification/pollinators” flower garden is…mostly still looking like bare dirt but I have high hopes, my herb collection seems to have mostly recovered from the shock of being transplanted from the previously neglected garden area into a planter, and my (old, inherited from previous tenants some decades back) peonies and mock-orange are smelling up the place something fierce (and delicious). What **you** got goin’ on? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2016, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sdmb-2016-gardening-thread/742126/64 "2016-06-02T21:59:42Z")
I’m worried the sugar snap peas will do poorly because it has been so bleeding hot. The two last weeks of May were more mid-summer-like with temps climbing into the 90s. Blech! But the 'maters and peppers loved it, the flowers are soaking it in and I’ve already harvested some basil, oregano and sage. ---
**Author:** ![Eva\_Luna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e495f1/32.png) [@Eva\_Luna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eva_Luna)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2016, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sdmb-2016-gardening-thread/742126/65 "2016-06-03T00:02:57Z")
The French breakfast radishes were tasty and have all been harvested. The watermelon radishes seem to be all woody and inedible and have bolted already, from a quick sample; I will pull some more over the weekend and possibly end up having to compost them all. No idea about the 3rd kind of radishes; I may sample those too. The peas have gone completely insane and have out-climbed the 5’ trellis, and are starting to produce the past few days. The greens have also gone insane, mostly the mustard and arugula (for some reason I don’t have any luck with broccoli rabe, which is too bad because I love it). Most of the tomato and pepper and eggplant and melon and cucumber seedlings didn’t make it. I think next year I will actually buy some kind of lighting source for starting them inside, and possibly also a seed starting mat, because we really don’t have any ambient light in the house. We got some more seedlings from **Tom Scud’s** cousin’s wife, who grew up on a farm and has a huge backyard in Peoria where she grows something like 15 kinds of tomatoes, among many other things, and generally a large chunk of the veggies her family eats. But then she’s been doing this her whole life, plus she has infrastructure - it’s almost comical what her seedlings look like next to the ones we started. And we also bought a few things from a local nursery - replacement tomatoes, cucumbers, eggplants, and peppers, including a couple of ghost peppers. So we probably won’t have the tomato jungle that we had last year, but that’s probably fine - it was more than a little overcrowded. (And we’re still eating the green tomato salsa and chutney that I made from the ~ 30 lbs. of green tomatoes that we picked just before frost hit last year.) Also, a co-worker gave me half a dozen strawberries because she was thinning hers out - I don’t know that they will produce this year, because they weren’t happy about being moved, but there’s always next year. And the garlic is looking happy, and the chives are going insane. Basil and especially mint are coming right along. So what flowers, preferably perennials, can I plant now that will bloom now through fall? I had a bunch of tulips, but they are done now and the yard is not looking so colorful anymore. Part of the problem is that there is almost no sun in the front yard, so many colorful things won’t do well there. ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2016, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sdmb-2016-gardening-thread/742126/66 "2016-06-03T01:51:02Z")
We have totally given up harvesting any strawberries from our strawberry patch. The birds love them. Last week end, my husband was out grilling and spied a nice, red strawberry in between the leaves. He put the food on, covered it and turned to grab himself a nice, fresh strawberry. Our resident cardinal was like, if you’re slow, you blow! and was on the ground pecking at it. Sometimes we come outside and the birds and squirrels have had a strawberry social on our patio table. The leaves, stems and picked over strawberries are left behind in a neat circle for us humans to clean up. I don’t mind, really. There are clutches of eggs in both snail habitats. If they hatch, I swear I’m gonna eat the adults. For reals! No wussing out! ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2016, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sdmb-2016-gardening-thread/742126/67 "2016-06-03T02:08:12Z")
> [@Biggirl](#): > > We have totally given up harvesting any strawberries from our strawberry patch. ☹ :mad: Girrrrrlllll! Strawberry nets!! [QUOTE=Biggirl] There are clutches of eggs in both snail habitats. If they hatch, I swear I’m gonna eat the adults. For reals! No wussing out! [/QUOTE] Good for you! Apparently one can [lure them with bran](http://www.motherearthnews.com/real-food/escargot-zmaz93jjztak.aspx?PageId=2): > [@](#): > > To harvest many snails at once, lure them to a gathering spot by taking advantage of their passion for bran. Leave a handful under an overturned, propped-up flower pot and the critters will come flocking. After they’ve gorged on bran, they’ll attach themselves to the inside of the pot and you can peel them off by the handful. If snails are munching on your fruit trees, band the trees with strips of copper. The snails won’t crawl over the bands, but will congregate at the base of each tree for easy picking. […] > > Once you’ve harvested your snails, you will need a place to house them until they’re ready to be cooked up. The inner portion of a bait pail makes a dandy snail farm, and so does a plastic five-gallon, food-grade bucket with numerous small holes drilled into it for ventilation. Because a snail can lift five times its own weight, you’ll need a tight-fitting lid to keep the little Samsons from organizing an escape. Although one bucket can house up to 500 snails, housekeeping is easier if you gather only as many as you need for one meal—allowing six per serving (double if the snails are small). > > Throw in a few extra to compensate for normal losses. Between batches, clean the bucket thoroughly. To avoid premature cooking, keep your snails out of the sun. Suitable sites include cool basements, airy garages, or any place where the temperature falls between 55°F and 75°F. Because you have no idea what your snails have been munching on that could taste unpleasant to you (or be toxic), allow a 10-day cleansing period before your own feast. The French disdain escargots fed with anything but grape leaves, but snails do fine on plain lettuce. Some folks pre-season them by feeding them herbs. Others plump up snails with cornmeal or bran and high-protein soymeal. > > Like any livestock, snails need water. A saucer full is sufficient, if you fill it frequently. Better yet is a narrow-mouth mayonnaise or canning jar fitted with a vacuum-controlled base, of the sort used to water baby chicks. The plastic base costs about a dollar and can be found at most feed stores. For pre-marinated mollusks, take a tip from the Romans and fill the jar with wine instead of water. [\*shoutout to \ ***quiltguy**! :)] > > Preparation And De-sliming [_okay, you can read that part yourself_] ---
**Author:** ![mistymage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mistymage/32/459_2.png) [@mistymage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mistymage)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2016, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sdmb-2016-gardening-thread/742126/68 "2016-06-03T03:23:07Z")
We have 95% of the gardens planted (3 houses). My mint is coming up in its bed (and outside of it… I should move the strays into the box but I have been lazy). We have some radishes but they are planted at the one place that doesn’t get watered so they were (the ones recently harvested) small. I may go over and if they are woody just snip a few leaves from each plant for greens. And then complain about them not having at the least a sprinkler so I can water all the other stuff over there. And whine that my garden doesn’t have the watering system put in —like he promised. My Stevia plant died. I’m not too sad because while it was cool to have my very own sugar substitute plant and the dried leaves do work in a tea. Well, it’s easier to shake a teaspoon of the bought stuff and get a more sugary taste compared to the dried leaves. We’ve got about a dozen pepper plants (various types) and cabbage plants grown from seed that we don’t have room for that I put up for free on our town FB page. Only “taker” so far is a friend who prolly said so just to give me some “town cred”\*. I guess I will have to post them up in the county garage sale page. Hubby always grows way too many plants even beyond the 2-4 one would grow in case a plant dies. I have also planted some Larkspur/Delphinium in honor of a friend who passed on. The flowers will be the color of his eyes. Hopefully they take root and come back year after year. They flower in June and Sept. so will provide a pretty addition to my garden. \*We’ve only lived here for 17 years and not everyone knows us by name. By face, yeah, because I look like my older sister who has lived here for 40 years. Or they might know our last name since Hubby’s family comes from these parts. Then again maybe everyone already has their gardens fully planted. Small midwest town so who knows. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2016, 11:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sdmb-2016-gardening-thread/742126/69 "2016-06-03T11:21:30Z")
I didn’t buy new seeds this year (except for the chard, which I was out of) but used up my old ones. As some were several years old the germination was a bit spotty but something of everything came up. A critter dug up have my lettuce patch (which always seems to happen) but looks I’ll be getting some of that. For some reason my radishes and lettuce haven’t bolted yet - fingers crossed! Got a late start Onions and bok choy are doing fine so far. Hope to get the beans in tomorrow. I have a LOT of bean seeds. Might do a second row using the property line fence as a trellis next week. If I get a lot of beans either I’ll freeze 'em all, or trade 'em for other stuff, or both. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2016, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sdmb-2016-gardening-thread/742126/70 "2016-06-25T23:53:54Z")
I desperately need to put in some new seeds/starts in the veggie and flower gardens, which are both awfully bare although the stuff that **is** up seems to be doing okay, but instead I’m thinking about longer-term plantings. What do you recommend for growing… - hydrangeas? I want a native species (NE US) and would prefer white. - hops? I know some homebrewers and apparently good organic hops can be expensive, so I see some bartered beer in my future if I can make this work. - lowbush blueberries? I want something definitely under 3 feet tall because otherwise it’ll shade the veggie garden. And I know I said I didn’t care if the rabbits ate **some** of the chard outside the fence but it looks like now they’ve eaten **all** of it. Phooey. Maybe some kale seeds, they seemed to like the kale the last few years. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2016, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sdmb-2016-gardening-thread/742126/71 "2016-06-26T01:16:15Z")
A good hydrangea for **Kimstu** is [oakleaf hydrangea (H. quercifolia)](http://www.hydrangeashydrangeas.com/oakleaf.html), a U.S. native with a good show of white flowers and excellent fall foliage. The best performing blueberry for me is [Top Hat](http://www.monrovia.com/plant-catalog/plants/1307/top-hat-blueberry/), which is compact, suitable for bed or pot culture and productive of tasty fruit. ---
**Author:** ![GoodOldKJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bc79bd/32.png) [@GoodOldKJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GoodOldKJ)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2016, 9:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sdmb-2016-gardening-thread/742126/72 "2016-06-26T09:00:53Z")
We have finally got done with the spring planting for this year. This was slow due to the chill that we had early and then dry and then rainy conditions. It’s been good last couple weeks and everything is in there Hopeful that this will be a good year. ---
**Author:** ![Eva\_Luna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e495f1/32.png) [@Eva\_Luna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eva_Luna)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2016, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sdmb-2016-gardening-thread/742126/73 "2016-06-26T13:06:32Z")
Well, the strawberries really didn’t like being transplanted and didn’t make it, but maybe they’ll come back next year. The peas have gone insane and are now petering out. I always forget how short a season they actually have - I guess I will save the dried-up pods for seeds for a fall crop and/or next year. We acquired some additional tomato, pepper, and eggplant seedlings and some more basil (regular and purple) and put them in the bare spots where the radishes got pulled up and where some of the seedlings I started didn’t make it. Also acquired a couple of melon and cucumber seedlings (we now have the United Nations of cucumbers: Parisian, Armenian, and Persian). They are happily climbing up the trellis. I think if nothing goes drastically wrong, we will either have more cucumbers than we know what to do with, or a LOT of pickles. The tomatoes are a forest again even though we started with not nearly as many plants as last year. Someone remind me of that next year when I want o plant too many tomatoes. I really need to go prune them heavily, but it’s raining right now. I’m in Zone 5. When should I see actual tomatoes and peppers and eggplants? July sometime? ---
**Author:** ![GrumpyBunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bc8723/32.png) [@GrumpyBunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrumpyBunny)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2016, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sdmb-2016-gardening-thread/742126/74 "2016-06-26T13:30:48Z")
> [@ENugent](#): > > I have never been a gardener, and in fact I usually kill houseplants dead within months. I kill houseplants, too, but do fine with outdoor gardens. I have strawberries (the first one is ready to come off today or tomorrow), English peas (went from seed to 4" high plants while I was on vacation), small round watermelon, cucumbers, A couple of pots of mixed flowers, a couple of dahlias, and a pot of poppies. My patio faces due east, with no trees, and I get sun all morning. The peas went in late because we kept having freezes late this year, so it looks like they will have an autumn harvest instead of a spring harvest. ---
**Author:** ![araminty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b5e925/32.png) [@araminty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/araminty)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2016, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sdmb-2016-gardening-thread/742126/75 "2016-06-26T14:20:29Z")
He. I ALREADY have made loads of pickles. And will make more! I only grew just pickling cukes, the short bumpy ones, which aren’t great for salad unless peeled. I’ve been out of town, and am super busy today and tomorrow. so I probably won’t get to the plot til Tuesday. A neighbour has been keeping it watered – I hope. Before I left, my first tomatoes were starting to ripen, my cantaloupe and watermelons were covered in flowers, my bell peppers had their first big fruit, the red onions aren’t really dying back yet (I think coz I planted some beans in the middle of them, and have been watering them!) and the spring onions are getting thicker and tougher quicker than we can eat them. I just ate the first peach off my peach tree, which had suspicious nibble-marks on one end (which I cut off). I blame my dogs. It was delicious. There’s only about 3 peaches on the tree this year, it’s tiny, and in a pot, so no way was I tossing a third of my harvest! ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2016, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sdmb-2016-gardening-thread/742126/76 "2016-06-26T15:59:16Z")
> [@Eva\_Luna](#): > > I’m in Zone 5. When should I see actual tomatoes and peppers and eggplants? July sometime? I had modest-sized tomato and eggplant transplants go in the ground in the second half of May here in zone 6, and expect the first fruit from both in about one week (cherry tomatoes are ahead of full-sized ones). ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2016, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sdmb-2016-gardening-thread/742126/77 "2016-06-27T02:42:20Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > A good hydrangea for **Kimstu** is [oakleaf hydrangea (H. quercifolia)](http://www.hydrangeashydrangeas.com/oakleaf.html), a U.S. native with a good show of white flowers and excellent fall foliage. You da man, **Jack-man**! My garden center had all hydrangeas marked down like 60% today, and I had a 10% off nursery coupon in addition to that, so I’m now the proud owner of a very well-grown oakleaf hydrangea sapling (shrubling? bushling?). Looking forward to getting it in the ground, but I have to plant my new annuals first and stop the Dust Bowl-level erosion of my still-mostly-bare median strip flower plot. (My one canna lily is leafing out like gangbusters, though, and last year’s transplanted daylilies are making a nice show.) ---
**Author:** ![Filbert](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/filbert/32/3433_2.png) [@Filbert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Filbert)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2016, 11:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sdmb-2016-gardening-thread/742126/78 "2016-06-27T11:47:07Z")
We’re having a great year for slugs and rot this year. I have a load of brassicas ready to go out, but I know they’ll just be eaten overnight. Really annoying. I got slug killin’ nematodes (which worked great last year) a few months back, but we had the only longish dry spell straight afterwards, and they just didn’t get going. I don’t want to use poison, because I get a load of wildlife (including slug eating frogs and lizards), but it’s just getting silly. Bah. At least snails are kind of cute, I do not want pet slugs. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2016, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sdmb-2016-gardening-thread/742126/79 "2016-06-28T01:06:30Z")
Today’s plantings included transplanted asters, salvia, plume celosia and petunias, and seeds of hollyhock, moonflower and nasturtium. Into the veggie garden went some direct-sown kale (for the bunnies), organic bush beans (probably also for the bunnies, curse them), and sugar baby watermelons (no idea). I have absolutely got to get those cucumbers and squash thinned out. I need to make some newspaper pots to facilitate giving away the ones I remove. Off I go to do that. ---
**Author:** ![Eva\_Luna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e495f1/32.png) [@Eva\_Luna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eva_Luna)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2016, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sdmb-2016-gardening-thread/742126/80 "2016-07-22T01:36:48Z")
:: bump :: We now have a tomato jungle, and the first few golden cherry tomatoes look like they will be ready to pick soon. The cucumbers have officially gone insane - just 3 plants have taken up most of a 2’ by 15’ bed with roughly 6’ high trellis. I have been foisting off cucumbers on the neighbors, we have been making cucumber cocktails, I’ve made 8 pints of various pickles so far…other ideas welcome. Eggplants are coming right along (at least 3 - 4 different varieties). I’m pondering attempting to can some ajvar, but we don’t have any red peppers yet (but we do have a few green ones). The basil is a hedge (both regular and purple), but that’s easily enough remedied. Yum. **Tom Scud** wanted to plant ghost peppers, which we did…so what the hell do we do with ghost peppers? Make hot sauce or something? The peas petered out, and I just planted a second crop for the fall (and some broccoli rabe and lacinato kale). The garlic looks ready to be harvested - will have to do some homework on proper technique for that, and for curing it and preparing some of it to plant for next year. Also, we have Chinese long beans! And little tiny melons! Can’t wait 'til those are ripe… How is everyone else doing? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sdmb-2016-gardening-thread/742126.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sdmb-2016-gardening-thread/742126.md?page=5)