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[Roy Martin]

Forget the dyes and all chemicals including chem. fertilizers.Your ground is probably micro organism inactive.
Aireate the ground and apply molasses.This will stimulate any micro organisms.Get away from from all that unnatural stuff.It kills the ground.
Roy Martin

[judith collier]

George, clover took over our yard and I let it. It is so green and doesn't grow high. I could care less about the lawn but this is quite nice now and I don't care that people say, CLOVER? oh, heck, it's GREEN!! Judy

[Roy Martin]

I read a story some years ago about a man that lived in a upper crust neighborhood. His yard was overgrown with weeds.The neighbors complain to the city,the city tells him to mow his yard but he refuses.He ends up in court w/o a lawyer. He ask the court to prove that a weed was not a flower.As most of us know that most weeds have flowers.Well the court couldnt prove him wrong so he gets to keep his weeds.
Roy Martin

[saladking]

I have found that carrots, silver beet and lettuces are the most worthwhile vegetables to grow in your own garden.
To get really good big carrots, thin them as small as you can and continue to keep the weeds pulled out from around them.  water them regularly so that the water sinks down deep.  By doing this you should get great big carrots 
Well at least I do.

David.

[Ninny]

Yum! David I LOVE big sweet carrots! I'll remember that! Yeah, you can EASILY grow your own salad!!
Kathy

[Patrick]

 

I am going to do some vertical gardening,
 

http://www.hangingtomato.com/

Be sure and click the "see it work" button. 
If only it were that easy!

I've been thinking real serious about a garden; the heat and critters are a really BIG concern. You need a Ft. Knox to protect the garden. Attack can come from above as well as below, and all sides. If only people would stop trapping the ground squirrels and dropping them off in our area! 

[winner08]

I love garndening,  before Katrina I had beautifull produce. I grew okra, peas, toms, banana pepers, bell pepers,  then I started growing my own spices. I loved it. I have put it off far too long. I wanted to start this yr. but I am not sure if I will be moving again or not. I will know in the next week or so. If it is not too late I will start to plant. First I will till the soil, the old fasion way. with a shovel. Turning over patches of grass and then removing the grass untill there is nothing but soil left. Then I will mix in some furtilizer and some miracle grow then plant. I miss it. well see what happens.

Darren

[Ninny]

Hey some good ideas guys! I was all set to do me some planting, then we found out my grandson has to have surgery again, so that will have to wait! Judy I wish my yard would grow clover we do have a lot but nasty old grass and weeds that you have to mow grows too! I try to let the clover grow as much as possible for the bees. I am concerned about the honey bees so I leave the clover when I can!
Kathy

[Kat]

Hi Darren,

Oh it's still early in the season, even for the deep south, you've got time.  I'm like you, i do gardening the old fashion way with a shovel, I think it's good exercise.  I'm planting about the same as you, but throwing in some peas and beans.

Kathy I'm praying that your grandson's surgery will go well. 
It's still early to set out a lot of things, so I've started some seeds in pots to get a head start.  I've noticed all the trees are starting to bloom too, spring is in the air 

mercy, peace and love
kat

[Kat]

                       If you can't dig, plan
                 by Sandy Hodson on January 22, 2009


It's a good thing the Master Gardener class began in the winter. By this time in the year I'm usually re-reading old gardening magazines, drooling over the plant catalogs and ordering too much.

But after classes this week, I vow to start gardening smarter. The most important tools in the gardening war chest are pen and paper, so say the masters, Richmond County Extension Agent Sid Mullis and retired Agent Clyde Lester.

Flowers, well ornamentals, and vegetables were the subjects this week. Since I love flowers and long to grow my own tomatoes, I was thrilled with this week's lessons.

Back to the subject. Pen and paper makes you think out a plan of action. You want to plant plants in the right place because 80 percent of the gardening problems are caused by a plant's inability to tolerate or adapt to the place you put it.

This is a perfect time of year to figure out what you are going to do when the weather can no longer hold you back. Start by taking a good look around your yard and do a rough sketch. Make notes of the conditions _ where are the shady areas, where does the sun beat down for hours every day, which way is northwest (where cold winds come from), note the traffic areas, and determine soil conditions.

That last item, soil condition, is very important. If yours suffer from the curses of Augusta _ sand or its opposite and just as annoying clay _ you can improve it by adding compost and soil conditioners.  And get that soil tested. Ornamentals love pH of 5.2 to 6.5.

Mulch is a best friend, but don't go nuts and don't let it build up year after year.  Mulching the vegetable garden should be delayed until whenever it heats up. That's because you want the ground to warm up around the new vegetable plants. Mulch can keep the ground cool and slow plant growth.

Plan your vegetable garden, too. Know how much area you have. Then you can decide how many plants can fit and which ones you will grow. Rows should go east and west, and the taller plants should be on north and west sides. Your site must have at least 6 hours of sunlight a day. You will need medium texture soil that is cultivated to a 12-inch depth. Vegetables prefer a pH of 6 to 6.5.

If you don't have the space for rows of plants, like me, you can square-foot garden. That means doing a square with each plant getting one square foot. Letting plants grow vertically (staking) makes good use of small spaces. Use containers, that are weighed down to decrease knock over, or make a raised bed.

http://blogs.augusta.com/thegardengnome

[winner08]

Greetings Kat:
              I see where you said you want to grow you own toms. I must tell you what happen to me a few yrs. back. I planted around 12 tom plants. Some little boys, some tall boys, some creole and about 4 cherry toms. Well the reg. toms grew fine and produce a descent v=batch of toms. But the cherry toms. produce hundreds and hundreds of little bitty cherry toms. I had so many I just could not give them away fast enough. It took quite awhile for them to start producing. I thought my cherry tom plants were no good. Then ,like I said BAM!! all 4 plants started producing at one time. When a batch would produce I would have a hundred or so (all 4 plants), then once I picked them it would take a couple of weeks and BAM!! all 4 would produce at one time. This happen all through the summer. I got so tired of toms and cherry toms. Its funny now that I think about it, but at the time it was hardly funny. So be carefull on which kinds of toms you plant. make sure you read up on how many toms one plant will produce through the summer. Anyway, good luck  and good gardening.

Darren

[Roy Martin]

Mind if I give a little gardening advice? Its too late now but this coming fall after all the leafs are down,till your garden in, add 6-12 inches of leafs over the entire garden. Spray all of the leafs with phosphoric acid,cover with black plastic until February or until your ready to plant.Remove plastic, add blood meal and bone meal and dried molasses, till it all in good and you will have super thriving soil that will grow anything.
  The acid speeds up the decomposing of the leaves and increases phosphorus, it will also lower pH slightly.Do a pH test to be sure. Most people ignore pH testing.Its very important I assure you.
  I have done many side by side studies and have found that high phosphorus will give you smaller plants but larger yields. High nitrogen will give larger plants with more foliage but less yield.
 Follow the instructions above and you will be quite pleased.

Roy     

[indianabob]

Gardeners,

Now here is a practical opportunity to learn what God has planned for our future.

Growing vegies is a great way to learn and to benefit.

The extra work is all worth while and the fruit is our reward.

Bob

[Roy Martin]

Mulching is indeed very good but avoid the hard wood mulches for vegetable gardens. Definitely do not use pine or cedar, they are over acidic. Have you ever noticed that almost nothing will grow under cedar or pine trees? Most hardwood mulches are bagged too soon. Open a bag and see how hot it is in the middle. This stuff is Ok for shrubs. Im a landscaper and see other landscapers put this stuff on pansies and other young flowers but the outcome is too obvious to me.
  Cotton bur compost is good for mulching but not straight out of the bag. Empty it out on a grass free area and let it set a few weeks or a month with some watering. Some of my customers have listened to me and let me remove all of the existing h/w mulches and now their gardens are beautiful. It took a season to see the difference but worth the wait.
 There is much to be said about mulching but I kept it short.

Roy

[Kat]

Hi Roy,

Thanks for all the advice.  I'm already getting started this year and the mulch info is greatly appreciated.  Not sure what I will be able to find to mulch with, but at least now I know what to look for 

mercy, peace and love
Kat

[iris]

When my brother mows his lawn, he takes the grass clippings and puts them around the plants in the garden. He has a beautiful garden every year and his plants produce lots of vegetables.


Iris

[Roy Martin]

Grass clippings are great as long as their not full of seeds. Its all about natural stuff that God provides.

Peace
Roy

[Roy Coates]

I shred our junk mail and paper instead of throwing it out. I mix the shredded paper with my grass clippings, kitchen scraps and a little water, cover it with a tarp. 4 days later I mix it with the Mantis tiller and cove it back up for another 10 days. It is now rich compost mulch and I use it to keep weeds down and fertilize the soil around my established plants. Works great. I have pick in my photo bucket link in a previous post of the compost project, with temps to show how hot and fast this process really is. You only need a small 3x3 spot to do it. I keep 2 or 3 piles going through the season. I even take my neighbors grass clippings. I don't use any pesticides or weed n feed on the lawn cause that may cause some issues in the garden and produce

[Ninny]

Hey! You Roys have some good ideas! I hope I can do some planting this year! It's going to be 80 degrees for the next couple of days!
Kathy

[saladking]

Hey, aren't you worried about the ink in the junk mail paper, Roy
I haven't put any lime in my veggie garden for years.  Blood and bone, or some other nitrogen fertilizer makes my veggies grow big.  My short sightedness has improved  since I've increased my carrot consumption

David.