Gardens anyone?

[seamonkey84]

Does anyone do soil testing themselves? I got a soil test kit that was a piece of junk obviously made in China, so spent more for a much better LaMotte test.

I'm kind of geek tester that likes to test the swim spa, my ponds, and now the gardens.

I’ve wondered if those kits are any good, even the ones we sell and use for fish tanks are just ball parking it, lab grade test kit for saltwater fish tanks are like $50 for each kind of test (ph, calcium, carbonate, magnesium, etc.)

[Raquettedacker]

Im done.  No room left for anything.
 Be picking my first tomato tomorrow got 4 good ones ready...

[rgfixit]

The kits are worthless. If you want accurate results get it tested by a Cooperative Extension lab. Might cost you $20 but, the results will be real.

Rg

[rgfixit]

Nice Dom!
I'm getting ready to do a couple upside down tomato pots to hang on my hammock post. Plan to plant the tops with basil and the bottom with a patio tomato variety.

Something different.
Rg

[ActiveTrapChecker]

Im done.  No room left for anything.
 Be picking my first tomato tomorrow got 4 good ones ready...

I’m jealous. Hopefully last night’s BLTs will be the last BLTs I make with store bought tomatoes until the fall

[Fish Dreamer]

First time posting here but I've learned alot from reading your posts. How long should I keep harvesting my asparagus. The bed is six years old and I think I am short changing myself as I only cut for about a month then let it go. It's been a good year and I would like to keep harvesting but don't want to stunt next year. Some pictures of my new beds. I did away with the wood that was always decaying and added 1 foot in height to make them 22 inches tall. Makes it nice to sit and garden.

[ActiveTrapChecker]

Nice looking beds! Sorry though, I am no use regarding asparagus.

[rgfixit]

Welcome!

I generally keep harvesting until the new shoots are  coming  up the size of a pencil. There's always the few that I miss and get too tall to cut. One that came up this year was almost 1 1/2" across. I let that and another go. They're already 5' tall. But, there's new shoots every day and we love it.

I'd guess another 2-3 weeks and we're done.

Rg

[Fish Dreamer]

Thanks RG. One more question. I added 1 foot in height to my new beds. I would like to raise the level in my asparagus bed. How much soil can I add without affecting next years crop?

[Raquettedacker]

FD welcome to the garden.
Those raised beds look awesome .

[rgfixit]

I added 8" to mine a couple years back and another 4" this year. It slows them down a bit but what I got was way bigger than before. Every fall I top the bed with about 4" of leaves that I pick up using my lawn tractor and a bagger.
Pretty much all maple leaves with some grass. I have to weed some grasses out during the year, but I think the mulch adds a lot of good nutrients to the soil. I also add some compost from my bin every year.

I don't cut it down till spring when it's totally dried out. A lot of people mow them right down in the fall. I think the plant uses all the energy from the summer growth so I let them go. It was advice I got from another member....can't recall who it was.

I'll be having some with a nice ribeye tonight for dinner!

Rg

[touge30]

man im jealous that garden makes mine look sick all i do is feed the rabbits with my pepper plants.Im three weeks from a tomato.Pumpkins havent even flowered

[Fish Dreamer]

Thanks once again RG. I will be adding soil this fall and I will wait until spring to cut them down. It amazes me that at my age I'm still learning how to garden. Thanks for to all for the comments on my beds. I have to thank the corona time out for the ambition to finally do it.

[seamonkey84]

Just got my polar berry plant and anne yellow bare root in! The yellow raspberry bare root looks good, still moist and showed suckers that were still green growing on some roots. The polar berry white blackberry was a bit pale from being in a box for a week, but still alive and intact. The thing that I don’t get is, the polar berry looks like it was several stem cutting stuck into a cell pack, then once they rooted and formed a plug, it was transferred into a 3” square pot. To me, that just seems like it’s getting started out as a tangled mess of several plants that can’t be thinned out. I’ll have to just hope that the roots spread out and produce proper new canes. Since I may have to put the building of my beds on hold till after repaving the driveway, the plants are going into containers to get established first. 

[Raquettedacker]

I’m jealous. Hopefully last night’s BLTs will be the last BLTs I make with store bought tomatoes until the fall

  My bride eat 2 of them last night..   Tomato on toast with lettuce and cheese ..  I had left over pasta.....