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It's going to take a while/year or more to get a garden site going. Pea gravel on top of solid clay with crap grass, does not lend itself to a quick makeover.

Raised beds will be necessary but there isn't any source for any type of soil imports. I did buy a mess of peat moss last summer before the prices doubled this year. It is now $44.00 for a 3.8 cft bag.

I have a big pile of pretend top soil scraped off part of the play ground to make way for the raised septic bed. It will take a lot of working it around with the tractor bucket to remove the sod and rock hard clay lumps. It will than be mixed with the big pile of clay created when we dug a big hole out back for drainage and future garden water.

This mixture will have the chicken coop cleanings, ash and minerals and more shavings mixed in. Hopefully next year it will be OK to fill raised beds.

Meanwhile, I am filling empty dog and chicken feed bags with a mix of the top soil only, and peat moss in order to plant some potatoes.

Imagine my joy to go out this morning to find 64 seed potatoes pulled out of their bags and dropped on the ground. Had to replant and cover them all with chicken wire tonight until I get something better fixed up.
 
Finished filling the raised beds and added the coop poop. Planted 40' of Tendergreen green beans. Still need to add more pickling cukes and I'll have room left over. What to plant, what to plant? Hmmmm.
Carrots! I never grow enough carrots.
 
Help please! Can't find the critter, but some sort of bug eating my spuds (leaves). What's the cure?
What % of the leaves are eaten?

30% or less is ok.

Lady bugs and praying mantis work for me.

Many years ago I used sevens dust but that kill pollinators so I stopped using it.

Planting multiple varieties of spuds has the advantage of one variety getting eaten while the others escape.

Ben
 
Usually it's a potato beetle. The babies are quite small. Look at the under side of the leaves on a plant that is only partially chewed up. Here, the potato beetles are bright orange with black dots. They are not lady bugs. I spend a lot of time picking them off and dropping them in soapy water.

1. Put a row cover on before the beetles arrive
2. Plant short season varieties after beetle season is over
3. Pick the bugs daily or use a bug dust if you are OK with that
4. Ask Peanut
 
I am gardening using my best hillbilly hoarding skills.

I have potatoes in dog & feed bags plus additional garbage bags. I am cutting the sidewalls out an abundance of old tires from the playground and planting lillies in them.

The leftover sidewall rings are lining the slanted sides of the septic bed and I am planting perennials in the donut holes.

I have some tomatoes in the old bath tub, more in the old laundry sink. One way or the other, I am getting stuff planted, mostly for the purpose of seed collection. It's not a good year for warm weather veggies.

Eventually, I hope to have a real garden with decent raised beds, but until then, it's whatever works
 
I'm with you @ClemKadiddlehopper, right now I'm trying to figure out a place for some sweet potato slips that I have started. I have a space with red clay but sweet potatoes don't like clay... If I had more time and money I would make a raised bed on the south border of my grape vine and let the sweet potatoes grow from the bed onto the grape vine support... I have pole beans now at eye level along the south side of the house (1 row as long a the house) and I was planning on planting okra in front of the pole beans but the wife is concerned that the will not be good friends..... I have some old 17 gallon tubs that are dry rotten and I was considering putting them above my water barrels and planting veining plants there.. I was hoping to use grass clippings to fill the bottom of some tubs but most of my yard had weeds so I don't want to reuse that... Reminds me, I'm not finished mowing.....
 
I have some really pretty little plants growing. I hope they don’t turn out to be males, I’d hate to cull these!

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If memory serves me...

Put them on a 12 hours on 12 off light schedule. Check for the flowers to start.

Hairs good balls bad

Kill the males and then you can put them back on a 24 hour light schedule to put them back in a vegetative state. Then take cuttings and clone the females.

Ben
 
I found a whole leaf on a mammoth head sunflower plant covered in little worms. How weird is that? Don't know what they were, but they are now squished.
The eggs where laid on that leaf, you got them before they traveled.
 
If memory serves me...

Put them on a 12 hours on 12 off light schedule. Check for the flowers to start.

Hairs good balls bad

Kill the males and then you can put them back on a 24 hour light schedule to put them back in a vegetative state. Then take cuttings and clone the females.

Ben

I have 4 autoflowers started now they are not photo sensitive they automatically flower within a short period of time without changing up the light schedule. Smaller plant smaller yield much faster to the harvest. I learned years ago I'm a waste of weed, never could smoke it never liked it but with it being legal to grow with a permit I thought it would be a fun project.
 
I spent yesterday morning planting all the things I didn’t get to earlier in the week. Rosemary and tarragon — supposedly the rosemary is the ‘arp’ variety that’s cold-hardy. Bean seeds, fennel, and beets. I don’t know if the fennel will be happy. It has a long growing season, so I may have to start it inside next year, if it doesn’t work.

There are currants growing on our currant bushes, and blueberries on our blueberry plants. I spotted some very tiny (pencil-tip sized) baby plums on one of our plum trees. Looking forward to how things fill in over the next few weeks.
 
I always had tater bug problems growing Kennebac taters. Last 2 years and again this year I've grown Yukon Gold taters and have yet to see a bug on them.

They come from small oragne eggs sacks under the tater leaves. Rub those off before the hatch, or hand pick the bugs every day or two if you miss the eggs. I've used Sevin dust before, but I don't like using chemicals.
 
I've never seen potato bugs, but it's my first year growing potatoes. Have grown sweet potatoes, but I'm sure that's different. I am growing some yukon gold this year. Squash bugs, though, I'm well aware of. And army worms and tomato worms, and grubs, and cabbage worms. The chickens all like those. I'm hoping the guineas will like eating squash bugs
 
I have 4 autoflowers started now they are not photo sensitive they automatically flower within a short period of time without changing up the light schedule. Smaller plant smaller yield much faster to the harvest. I learned years ago I'm a waste of weed, never could smoke it never liked it but with it being legal to grow with a permit I thought it would be a fun project.

Plant them in the garden, they can be a good companion to other crops......and if all else fails, it's a good compost addition at seasons end.


Not that we ever smoked it as adults (we sure did as kids though), hubs would start a few in the house, then insist I save him a spot in the garden. He'd grow it, then give it all away. Whatever, it kept him busy. But the last time he grew some, I noticed small green bugs with wings on the plant. It was covered with them, but I didn't notice any damage to the plant itself, so it may act as a trap crop to keep the bugs from other plants, IDK.
 
Help please! Can't find the critter, but some sort of bug eating my spuds (leaves). What's the cure?

spinosad works best for colorado tater bugs...its smokes them dead and its organic...so they say...my hippie friends feel its safe even...YMMV.


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dwarf grey sugar snaps blooming,Makah tribe fingerlings looking better than when i grew them last 2 years.they are small delicate leaves compared to other...my 2cents. Cherokee purple maters

sidenote...see damage on potatoes?...its earwig damage. i hate the things.use to not be here now they like plague often.

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Plant them in the garden, they can be a good companion to other crops......and if all else fails, it's a good compost addition at seasons end.


Not that we ever smoked it as adults (we sure did as kids though), hubs would start a few in the house, then insist I save him a spot in the garden. He'd grow it, then give it all away. Whatever, it kept him busy. But the last time he grew some, I noticed small green bugs with wings on the plant. It was covered with them, but I didn't notice any damage to the plant itself, so it may act as a trap crop to keep the bugs from other plants, IDK.

Due to the permit we have it has to be grown in a locked room.
 
one of my experiments this year. with availability of everything in question along with cost. i decided to try and be sure and grow enough fingerlings to not have to buy any seed potatoes. i havent for several years...of fingerlings...and last year they just didnt do well. so i decided to plant a mound of taters..a row each of Makah tribe,red and purple fingerlings. i have hilled up as much as i can already and once i get it weed free as possible again i am covering it with grass clippings. the Makah taters you cant buy.i was lucky enough to get 12 small ones from Martin 2 years ago.they not done well size wise but had enough to plant in both gardens probably 50 feet or so of them. i hope they do well.


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