Gardens anyone?

[Raquettedacker]

Hope my bleeding hearts  dont get frosted this year like last... 

[tomturkey]

Mine are in full bloom. They were trying to come up through the snow as it was melting. The one I have is planted next to the crawl space so it get heat from the furnace that is 10 feet away in the crawl space.

[rgfixit]

Mine is growing and blooming like crazy. My first Blue Hosta stuck a shoot through yesterday. I planted root stock about a month ago. I ease beginning to wonder.a couple of the Clematis roots I planted are starting to make an appearance as well. Transplanted another 4 cukes and 6 tomatoe starts to the garden yesterday morning along with another variety of spinach.

Hey Tom,
When should I stop harvesting my asparagus? I'm getting shoots as big as my thumb and harvesting enough for a good meal about every 2 days. I'm picking them at about 6-7". I've never tasted asparagus like this. Incredibly sweet and tender.

Rg

[Chuckles]

Gentleman,  got a question.  When you plant your tomatoes, what all do you put in the hole with the plant? My neighbor across the street from me puts fish ( covered with lime ) and egg shells in the hole.  Any thoughts or comments on the subjects?   I'm going to pant my tomatoes the first of the week.
 Later Chuckles

[Raquettedacker]

No neeb for lime in the hole unless you had your soil tested. Some lime will prevent blossom end rot...
Fish will be dug up.by critters.
Egg shells are great for tomatoes...

[rgfixit]

I don't add anything to my soil for tomatoes. My raised beds get a healthy topping of leaf mulch in the fall when I close them up. That's tilled in come springtime. To that I add peat, composted manure, perlite and vermiculite. I also add some bone meal.

I do apply eggshells to my tomatoes, dried and made into a slurry in the blender. I haven't had any problems with blossom end rot. I'm looking into applying epsom salt as many say it is beneficial.

My neighbor, a really nice lady, can't grow tomatoes for spit. Her biggest problem is irregular watering and then either heavy rain or watering, causing  splitting. And...she refuses to add calcium to end the blossom end rot problems. Instead, she only grows cherry tomatoes.

I'm working on her letting me help her solve the problem. I made them (she and her husband) a really nice garden gate for their plot. Nice double rounded top with a sunburst appliqué.


Rg

[deerefishyfishy]

Rg, I'm interested to hear Tom's reply buy my great uncle always swore that you can harvest asparagus until July 4th. At that point you just let it grow and bush out to store root reserves for the winter. Don't mow it off until it has been hit with a hard frost or a freeze so it doesnt try to re-grow. I have always heeded this and had great luck with mine. It gets looking pretty mangy when it's all tall and bushy though. You have to follow the same line of thinking with alfalfa on the farm. You mow it for the last time either a few weeks before you expect the first hard frost or anytime after it happens. Otherwise the alfalfa tries to regrow, burns a lot of it's stored energy reserves doing so, and the stand takes a big hit the following spring. Just my .02

[rgfixit]

Thanks for the answer. My patch is in a raised bed.  I let mine go all winter. Never cut it till maybe early March when I remove the old fronds. They're dried out and go in the compost bin. That way I'm sure the plant has used all the energy it can from the previous year's growth. I put a good 8" of leaf mulch over the bed for winter. 

As this is the first year I've harvested any, I'm not quite sure about how much I should take and how much to let grow. I'm getting spears as big as my thumb. Had enough the past two days for my Bride and I and some to share with my son. I have one crown that seems an "underachiever" I might just replace it with another purple asparagus crown. I left a 2 square foot section of that bed empty to plant other stuff in, but after tasting the asparagus, I think I'm gonna drop another couple crowns of purple in there to fill the bed out.

I told my Bride that I'm gonna add the asparagus bed to my will.

On a side note, I'm picking up a store bought tomato plant today to graft onto one of my potato plants. One of my Yukon Gold plants is just perfect for a try. Should be very interesting to see if I can grow tomatoes on top and potatoes on bottom.

Rg

[tomturkey]

RG It depends on how old the planting is. Here they do not pack any until the third year and then only a couple of times. It takes a few years to build up a heavy producing crown. I asked my farmer friend how many times they pick a mature field a couple of years ago but I forgot what he said. must be an old age thing!! They will be picking late this year due to the late start of the season. When it started the pickers of one 35 acre field, I went by while turkey hunting, would start of over after finishing it. This is with 5 guys riding on a propelled picker and one walking behind to get what they missed. I am sure that the farmers and pikers are glad it cooled off so it slowed down.  If they get to far behind they have to brush hog the fields taking a few pickings with it.

When picking asparagus just bend it and it will snap off where it is still tender. No need to cut it like they do in California and Indiana as they are selling you a lot that you throw away. I only eat asparagus that is grown in Michigan while it is available fresh. You can hold asparagus in the refrigerator for up to a couple of weeks by putting it in a plastic bag with just a Little water. I bought 10 lbs of fresh asparagus to share with friends when I got home yesterday.

In Michigan they mow off the fields in the  fall after it has browned down to get the mowed fern to rot down some over the winter. The problem I see with that is there is nothing sticking up in the field to hold the snow there so that moisture ends up in the diches along the road from the winter winds not in the field for the next growing season.

Rg What little Chestnut I have cut so far is in pretty bad shape. It has been dead for a long time and has weathered and cracked pretty bad.

They are running out of fields to plant as any old field that they want to replant needs to be fumigated before replanting. It costs between 3 and 4 thousand dollars an acre to fumigate.

[rgfixit]

Thanks for the reply Tom. No worries about the chestnut. It is what it is.

I picked a few spears this evening and didn't even cook them. Just munched them down raw. Super tasty. I'm picked pretty bare right now so I think I'll wait and see what happens.

Rg

[O]

RG, This is what we told customers that bought asparagus and rhubarb roots for their garden.  Year 1, take nothing, year 2 take 1/2 of what is produced, year 3 take all that you like.  I put some roots in last year and have just let it grow, its already almost 4 feet tall. 

 I would think July 4 is a pretty good cutoff for the asparagus, after that it gets woody. 

[rgfixit]

Thanks O,
This is year 3. I didn't take any the first 2 years. I think I'll err on the side of caution and maybe stop in mid June.  The potatoes planted behind the asparagus bed can use the shade in the warm weather anyway.

Picked up a yellow cherry tomato plant yesterday. Supposed to rain today so it's time to do the tomato/potato graft.

Rg

[rgfixit]

Well, the experiment is in process.

Grafted a Yellow Cherry Tomato scion to a Yukon Gold Potato root stem.
All set and taped up and ready to grow.

Made a shade cover for it with burlap and a tomato cage.


We shall see what happens. By all accounts, I should have  potatoes below and cherry tomatoes on top.

Rg

[Raquettedacker]

Good luck Bob . All the ones I have tried died.   
Would love to see yours work...

[rgfixit]

Time will tell Dom. But...as always.......I'm determined.

Rg