What did you do in the garden today?

[chickengr]

Exactly!
Have you ever grown Salanova lettuce?

I had to google it, lol. I grew up eating tons of green butter lettuce. as I didn't drink much milk neither ate much cheese as a kid I believe butter lettuce helped me build strong bones. they are packed with calcium. my grandparents used a lot of limestone to break up heavy clay soil. everything they grew was packed with calcium.

 

[chickengr]

Question for the fruit tree lovers:
Why would my two native plums both flower but not develop fruit at all? I don't even see tiny fruit falling off. Just nada, zilch, zero! I have two of them and they are close to each other so bees would easily go from flowers on one tree to the other.

did it rain heavily when they bloomed? that's my problem here. when they bloom we should not water it a lot either.

 

[Sally PB]

Question for the fruit tree lovers:
Why would my two native plums both flower but not develop fruit at all? I don't even see tiny fruit falling off. Just nada, zilch, zero! I have two of them and they are close to each other so bees would easily go from flowers on one tree to the other.

How old are the trees?

I have two Montmorency (sour) cherry trees. Two years ago, they had a few blooms, at age 2 or 3; no fruit. Last year, they had "lots of blooms!" (I thought), and maybe half a dozen fruit, which the birds got. This year, I bet they had thousands of blooms.

I'm thinking those two years, the trees were just too young to support fruit development. I don't know this, but it sort of makes sense to me.

We had 3 nights of frost/freeze, and covered them them with sheets. They're still small (short) enough for us to do that. There is a LOT of fruit developing. If we hadn't covered them, I bet we would have lost it all. Same with the blueberries.

Another thing I've done, starting last spring, is to use a product called Tree Tone. I sprinkled a couple pounds of that around each of our cherry and apple trees. I think that's helped too. I'm sure the Berry Tone has helped the blueberries. They had more berries last year (and they're 8-ish years old) and this year they're loaded.

 

[Acre4Me]

my kids eat dirt as well. are they missing some nutrient? they have goat mineral and vitamin blocks all the time.

Not sure! We provide ours with loose goat minerals, hay and textured goat feed (it’s contains pellets and whole grains). The kids are eating the loose minerals just fine, so, maybe the dirt smells good? It’s only the dirt from the garden beds (mostly empty still).

 

[Wee Farmer Sarah]

Good morning gardeners. I did very little yesterday. Relaxed mostly. Spent the morning and afternoon with DD and the grandkids. I did work on prepping the bed where the winter squash is going. I’m thinking of putting a couple of sugar baby watermelon plants in the same bed. The butternut squash variety is the small compact type so if I use a trellis for the watermelons it should work. No Aurora here last night, too many clouds. I have a medical appointment this morning but I should be able to get the green beans planted this afternoon. Fingers crossed . Have a great day all.

 

[jerryse]

Question for the fruit tree lovers:
Why would my two native plums both flower but not develop fruit at all? I don't even see tiny fruit falling off. Just nada, zilch, zero! I have two of them and they are close to each other so bees would easily go from flowers on one tree to the other.

I have noticed the wild plums and some never set fruit. They can clone themselves by root suckers which can be the cause in some cases of patches not fruiting. I have no ideas why some will not set fruit even with domestic varieties blooming at the same time. I have wild ones that never set fruit but I can graft domestic verities to them and get fruit on the domestic part.

 

[Liz Birdlover]

Tried to stay up late Sat. Night to see the Aurora Borealis, as they said visibility is best 12am to 2am, (ended up being 4am...yeah, so tell me, who can pull off all nighters easily anymore...this ole gal sure can't! I mean holy crap...4am?...that's about when I wake up now, not by choice either ). So, Sat night I was actually addressing the Johnsongrass weeds (they're presently the best growers in my yard)...sitting on an upside-down 5 gal bucket & putting the weeds, by the light of the moon, or at least cutting off seed heads of what I could not pull, & placing into another 5 gallon bucket. I moved my buckets along & before ya know it, I nearly filled a huge trash can as I dumped each full bucket in. About 11pmish the clouds rolled in & began to rain, so that was the end of my moonlight gardening. I had a winter coat & hat on, it was very cold here all weekend. Sunday, I resumed my war on Johnsongrass & now the big trashcan is Full. I've still got Johnsongrass out there! Ugh, what a nasty weed. Between that & nutsedge & Bermuda grass, I ache bad. I got the sacroiliac shots but my arthritis hips are hurting now.

Monday, good morning, it is sunny, but still cold & damp here. (39 degrees 5am ). They say it'll warm up...I hope so. Too cold to put any seedlings out. Eggs to market is on the agenda, & separating more seedlings into larger pots indoors. If my back can handle it, I see more Johnsongrass swaying in the cold breeze, mocking me...needing to be pulled or at least seed heads cut & trashed. I will check out everyone else's pics of the northern lights, there are some great ones!

 

[Sueby]

Do any of y'all cut your onion tops back? I'm talking large sweet spanish bulbing type. I always have when they're little (couple inches) but have never done it when they're big. Seems like a lot of people are either YES, for sure or NO, don't be dumb. LOL. Opinions?

 

[Molpet]

Do any of y'all cut your onion tops back? I'm talking large sweet spanish bulbing type. I always have when they're little (couple inches) but have never done it when they're big. Seems like a lot of people are either YES, for sure or NO, don't be dumb. LOL. Opinions?

The place I have bought plants from says no


https://www.facebook.com/share/p/Hsw4koivHVTfQqqT/?mibextid=oFDknk

There has been some recent discussion about something referred to as "topping" onion plants. There is a school of thought that if you cut off or trim the green tops of your onions, that the energy will transfer from leaf growth to bulb growth and produce a larger onion. We know that different techniques provide different results for each individual so we will never say that someone's method is wrong but here at Dixondale Farms, we do not recommend it. The size and number of rings of the onion is determined by the size and number of leaves or tops. The carbohydrates in the leaves will transfer to the bulb, creating a large healthy onion. Cutting off the tops damages the very thing that promotes the bulb growth and will cause more energy to be spent regenerating more green tops. Seed stems also known as bolting should not be pinched off as this creates an open hollow tube straight into the middle of the onion, giving insects and other elements an open door to the inside of the onion. We recommend to go ahead and pull the onion and eat it as it will not grow much more than it has at the point the seed stem appeared. We hope you all have a bountiful harvest.

 

[Sueby]

The place I have bought plants from says no


https://www.facebook.com/share/p/Hsw4koivHVTfQqqT/?mibextid=oFDknk

There has been some recent discussion about something referred to as "topping" onion plants. There is a school of thought that if you cut off or trim the green tops of your onions, that the energy will transfer from leaf growth to bulb growth and produce a larger onion. We know that different techniques provide different results for each individual so we will never say that someone's method is wrong but here at Dixondale Farms, we do not recommend it. The size and number of rings of the onion is determined by the size and number of leaves or tops. The carbohydrates in the leaves will transfer to the bulb, creating a large healthy onion. Cutting off the tops damages the very thing that promotes the bulb growth and will cause more energy to be spent regenerating more green tops. Seed stems also known as bolting should not be pinched off as this creates an open hollow tube straight into the middle of the onion, giving insects and other elements an open door to the inside of the onion. We recommend to go ahead and pull the onion and eat it as it will not grow much more than it has at the point the seed stem appeared. We hope you all have a bountiful harvest.

That's exactly what I was thinking - didn't seem to make much sense to me. I do, however, cut off seed stems if they show up early - I'll have to pay attention to that this year & see if it causes any problems. Thanks for the link.