Gardens, Farming and all things of our great ecology

POSTED BY: Mangolo
UPDATED: Friday, August 21, 2009 04:28
VIEWED: 7124
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NIKI2

Tuesday, August 18, 2009 9:55 PM

Oh, that would be kewl. I loved having lady bugs around, and even hatched some praying mantis once...adorable!

Will check it out right away, thanx again.

NIKI2

Tuesday, August 18, 2009 9:55 PM

Damn...happened again. Posted twice, sorry.

KWICKO

Tuesday, August 18, 2009 10:33 PM

I've got a few things growing around the house. Peach trees, pecan tree, a mulberry, some blackberry briars, a few pepper plants, tomatoes, onions, garlic (basically almost everything I need to make fresh salsa and pico de gallo!), and several spices - rosemary, sage, parsley, cilantro, spearmint, citronella, and a pineapple that I planted on a whim, that's actually growing. There also appear to be some wild grapes that are climbing all over the place.

I'm planning on adding some citrus trees (lemon, lime, and grapefruit), a couple olive trees, and maybe an avocado or two for next year.

The squirrels and birds seem to eat more of the food than I do, but I said at the outset that I was planting the stuff just to see if it would live, and if I never got anything but relaxation out of it, I'd be fine. So far, I've gotten some of everything, but not really enough of anything! Ain't that just the way of the world, though?

Mike

NIKI2

Tuesday, August 18, 2009 10:39 PM

Wow. That's impressive! I planted some herbs, which have since all gone wild and I'm gonna rip them out, and "gave" Jim a dwarf apple years ago which has really gone crazy and this year is gonna give us one helluva crop! Other than that, you guys got me beat by a mile. Good on you!

STINKINGROSE

Tuesday, August 18, 2009 11:37 PM

Cheater! Living in tropical paradise so you get to garden year round!

I am jealous. We get six months of wintery stuff here, so we make the most of the growing season we've got. I'm contemplating making cold frames or a greenhouse so we can do some winter veggies. Maybe not this year.

My mint is going gangbusters (spear,pepper,and chocolate), and the roses had a good year. We've got chookies and their uggs. Deer, rabbits, squirrels, chipmunks, skunks, groundhogs, various insects, assorted avian marauders.. I have foes aplenty. I gave up this year. I think razor wire would have been the only thing keeping them out. Ivory soap hung in old socks on the trees in the orchard seems to help a little with the deer. Then there's the weeds and invasive plants. Sigh. I'm working on a good sized raised bed and thinking about what I want to put in for fruit. I'm trying to make the landscape largely useful, and decrease the sheer amount of lawn.

MANGOLO

Tuesday, August 18, 2009 11:56 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by stinkingrose:
Cheater! Living in tropical paradise so you get to garden year round!
I am jealous.

Don't be jealous. I love the year round weather here, but so do the weeds and pests. I used to have a garden on the mainland. Every spring was almost a fresh slate.

Our fruit trees grow quickly (bananas in one year), but we have these junk trees - weedy trees that grow 20 ft in one year. They shade out everything - some of them can sprout from a small piece of branch, drop thousands of seeds, or any little bit of root in the ground. It was easy being an organic farmer on the mainland - here we have weeds that grow 4" in a day!

I plant a lot of bamboos to compete and help control the noxious plants.

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=86085840444

STINKINGROSE

Wednesday, August 19, 2009 9:48 AM

Somehow the thought of planting bamboo to control weeds strikes me as odd.. kind of like planting kudzu for any reason.

I've got giant cow parsnip (not hogweed luckily) which grows up to 6feet or so in a season, sets lots of seed, and if your skin comes in contact with it and you then get sunlight on the oils will bring you out in large itchy blisters. Fields and fields of the stuff and we can't seem to get rid of it. It's exploded in the last five years. My aunt who lives next door is an invasive species expert, and she's got us mowing the fields before it sets seed every year in hopes of getting rid of, or at least controlling, the darned stuff. I remember when the field was mostly timothy with milkweed, a little goldenrod, and vetch. The bees used to love it even five years ago when the chickory and knapweed had moved in. Now the milkweed's almost completely gone and we don't see monarchs anymore.

MANGOLO

Wednesday, August 19, 2009 9:33 PM

:(

The invasives are the problem everywhere. BTW We plant clumping bamboo, not runners.

We have Miconia here. It invaded Tahiti before here and wiped out 90% of their native vegetation in less than a decade. Very few native birds are left there because there is nothing for them to eat.

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=86085840444

JILLIAN8020

Thursday, August 20, 2009 4:59 AM

Got a pretty substantial garden this year. Peaches, blueberries, pears, tomatoes, carrots, cucumbers, broccoli, strawberries, three kinds of squash, pole beans, bush beans, english peas, okra, and seven varieties of lettuce....and yes, I still have time for Firefly...just barely! lol

MANGOLO

Thursday, August 20, 2009 5:12 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by Jillian8020:
Got a pretty substantial garden this year. Peaches, blueberries, pears, tomatoes, carrots, cucumbers, broccoli, strawberries, three kinds of squash, pole beans, bush beans, english peas, okra, and seven varieties of lettuce.

Sounds wonderful. Care to share any pictures?

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=86085840444

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