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Re: It was a bit of an unexpected segue moondog Send a noteboard - 06/04/2013 04:58:03 PM

i had considered the possibility of raised beds but the only suitable wood around here is redwood and it gets expensive to do a redwood raised bed compared to regular treated lumber which i have no idea whether it's food safe or not... instead we just got some old wine/whiskey barrels last year and are using those in lieu of putting in the money for proper raised beds. i have the majority of my herbs (listed below in reply to DomA) in barrels with the exception of chives which we put in the ground because the container we bought them in was mislabeled as leeks i need to get my mint into a containment scenario, we end up using way more than we have growing and it's always a battle to wait for more to grow before cutting it back again.

have you tried making your own vinaigrette? i used to drown my salads in ranch/bleu cheese before i became lactose intolerant. i find that making your own dressing is a lot better tasting but it does require some trial and error before you find a combo that works well. we waffle between a balsamic and this asian style dressing which is super spicy. balsamic is good for leafy salads, but the spicy asian one is great for a chunkier salad (i.e. lots of tomatoes, cucumber, onion, etc and light on leafy stuff)


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Makes me wondering where Druid is at, we had a spring garden thread every year but last and the last one we kinda bogged down on compost bin design.

Hmm... what am I growing this year... I've been doing a lot more small patches with the whole square-foot raised bed approach in recent years but am kind shifting back more to prior habits, especially with the post-harvest reconfig I did of them.

Expecting the trumpet vine to finally achieve total absorption of the cedar trellis near my goldfish pond, the roses on the one nearest the house will probably continue to have positive if disappointing expansion and the middle one continues to fail to grow anything. As mentione din the other thread, various perennials are doing between disappointing and okay, partially form last years drought. I've broken all my 4'x4' raised beds up and reconnected them into a comb pattern, one long spine 2.5' wide and 60 feet long with two edge sections 6' foot long and 3' wide, and various 3'x4' 'tooths' down the middle. See if I can draw this

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edit:yeah that didn't work, picture a comb

Like that only with more tines, 10 total. I've transplanted my thorny plants to the edges, I'll be growing some stuff with them but they're anti-deer, and I've got a rolling fence (the dotted line on the bottom) I can string across when I'm not using it. Not the most aesthetically pleasing arrangement but I'm confident it will minimize deer pillaging.

I plan, for this piece of my garden anyway, to use the 8 short middle tines, 3 feet wide and 4 long, as cut in half, one plant on one side and another on the other, which gives me 16 options but I'll likely double up and one is already all strawberry. The comb setup plus the other garden bits, can't be sure all what I'll grow this year but potatoes of course, some blue ones. Onions, radishes, maybe some turnips for a change, tomatoes, rhubarb, probably skip carrots this year I always get those fat stubby monsters. Some squash, peppers, some Romaine lettuce, cabbage is kind of tempting, but i'll probably pass on that, beets maybe. Probably some spinach, endives, etc I'm not a big salad fan and i tend to smother the stuff in chunky blue cheese but I'm trying to do more soup and salad as part of the new front in my ongoing war to regain my sorely missed military physique... or at least stop losing ground... the war does not go well

Herbs... probably bring that down, I like fresh Thyme, chives, and mint on hand but otherwise I've been using a lot more curry and cayenne then prior years and less parsley, oregano, marjoram, basil etc. Of course the mint is more about confinement then growing these days, its spread all over the place.

Of course, I'll probably change around the whole dynamic next week, you know how that goes.


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the gardening thread - 06/04/2013 01:04:36 AM 885 Views
It was a bit of an unexpected segue - 06/04/2013 02:46:21 AM 691 Views
Re: It was a bit of an unexpected segue - 06/04/2013 04:58:03 PM 641 Views
Re: the gardening thread - 06/04/2013 02:56:47 AM 561 Views
The hot peppers sound yummy. *NM* - 06/04/2013 03:52:05 AM 365 Views
I find mizuna to be near-intolerable. - 07/04/2013 04:40:04 AM 591 Views
Re: I find mizuna to be near-intolerable. - 07/04/2013 04:47:09 PM 439 Views
I did. - 14/04/2013 03:16:07 AM 563 Views
Gonna "grow" some more baby chicks this year. - 06/04/2013 03:40:42 AM 560 Views
one day we are getting some chickens, but not just yet - 06/04/2013 05:03:55 PM 560 Views
Re: yeah, turkeys are difficult. *NM* - 06/04/2013 09:55:46 PM 326 Views
Butternut squash is one of my favorite things. - 06/04/2013 11:38:59 PM 434 Views
Yes, it's good so many different ways. - 07/04/2013 04:23:42 AM 544 Views
Mhmm - 07/04/2013 10:09:05 AM 620 Views
Not sure yet. - 06/04/2013 02:06:49 PM 586 Views
Re: Not sure yet. - 06/04/2013 05:09:49 PM 510 Views
Re: Not sure yet. - 06/04/2013 11:36:56 PM 558 Views
Re: Not sure yet. - 07/04/2013 05:12:50 PM 502 Views
Home-grown apples are one of the greatest things in the world. - 07/04/2013 04:33:01 AM 553 Views
I'll try to grow some trees - 06/04/2013 04:36:25 PM 537 Views
Re: I'll try to grow some trees - 07/04/2013 05:23:04 PM 532 Views
No, no fruits - 07/04/2013 09:09:00 PM 590 Views
The usual suspects. - 06/04/2013 08:28:53 PM 585 Views
Re: The usual suspects. - 07/04/2013 05:25:15 PM 536 Views
Re: The usual suspects. - 08/04/2013 10:52:29 PM 535 Views
Re: The usual suspects. - 09/04/2013 12:50:20 AM 501 Views
First I'd need a garden - 06/04/2013 11:49:14 PM 546 Views
Get a Chia Herb Garden. - 07/04/2013 04:26:15 AM 599 Views
Very cute! - 07/04/2013 10:36:36 AM 569 Views
you could set up one of those talking toys to remind you? - 07/04/2013 05:27:31 PM 579 Views
try succulents - 07/04/2013 05:06:53 PM 536 Views
Nothing at my house, unfortunately. - 07/04/2013 04:35:54 AM 510 Views
For reference: US plant hardiness zone map updated 2012. - 09/04/2013 04:10:27 PM 606 Views
Seems such a weird thing to have a CAPTCHA code on - 09/04/2013 04:32:14 PM 546 Views
and a case-sensitive one at that.... - 09/04/2013 06:07:14 PM 538 Views
Yeah, I noticed that but didn't want to admit it took me seven or eight tries to first *NM* - 09/04/2013 06:18:53 PM 340 Views
Only took me three. *NM* - 09/04/2013 07:05:24 PM 323 Views
Well, aren't we special? - 09/04/2013 09:33:20 PM 584 Views
I thought it odd too. *NM* - 09/04/2013 07:06:37 PM 317 Views
I am going to have to sacrafice my garden for a swimming pool - 14/04/2013 02:46:51 PM 595 Views
pools are way more work than they're worth.... - 15/04/2013 07:13:03 PM 570 Views
looks like my garden may be spared - 21/04/2013 04:39:58 PM 530 Views
My broccoli is up and I love my new LED grow lights. *NM* - 18/04/2013 01:50:24 AM 348 Views

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