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Home Gardens - Tips, Tricks, Methods, and the Bounty


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It's a pretty weed, I'm almost afraid to pull out weeds, because I'm not sure if it's something I planted that just went rogue & jumped across the yard...which is why my yard is a wreck right now (not discounting the 2 dogs, who have EATEN 5 mature Japanese maples)....

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...the 2 dogs, who have EATEN 5 mature Japanese maples)....

:o Those are some industrious dogs. Back to the weed, in all seriousness, as close as you are to the river, I'm going to guess some sort of Sagittaria-type water plant that got deposited in your garden by a bird. It does look to be in the Araceae.

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^Bet you're right about it being in the Araceae. It could also have come from a flower arrangement (it was in the compost pile). I think I'll go pot it up, bring it inside, and see what it grows into. Pity that it's too late to see if it came from a corm or tuber or rhizome or whatever - that would be a good clue.

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I almost never do 'NY resolutions', but I would really like to try & rehabilitate my backyard this year (or maybe I should just move my efforts to the front yard). I really like where I live, & I guess if I man up, & remove a lot of water-sucking maples out of of the yard ( but they're mature trees), I could (despite the dogs, at 1+, they're slightly less destructive), have a nice, productive (have 7 earth boxes) backyard...anyone else thinking about what to do in the yard?

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I almost never do 'NY resolutions', but I would really like to try & rehabilitate my backyard this year (or maybe I should just move my efforts to the front yard). I really like where I live, & I guess if I man up, & remove a lot of water-sucking maples out of of the yard ( but they're mature trees), I could (despite the dogs, at 1+, they're slightly less destructive), have a nice, productive (have 7 earth boxes) backyard...anyone else thinking about what to do in the yard?

Are you kidding? This is the time of year when gardeners peruse those catalogs and dream of all the things we are going to do as soon as it's growing season. Especially me, since my patio has been a dreadful construction site since the beginning of October. You have no idea.

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Well my friend and I were made Presidents of our Community Garden so I am going to have to step it up. We have learned a lot about our patch of land. I also got some great wellies for this spring. Now just finding sources for seeds for things I want to grow and planning/plotting.

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^ Congratulations!

I followed the directions for parsnips in the Victory Garden cookbook, and got two that look like real parsnips! (Although the one on the right with two legs does look somewhat salacious...)

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I've been heaping horse manure and wood ash onto the beds and covering them for planting this spring. I'm lazy and like to let the worms do all the tilling for me. The only thing left in the ground is my stand of leeks, and I like the idea of pulling them when needed instead of cooking and freezing them. Here's wishing for a mild winter so I can do just that.

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Leeks! These were started in late fall 2010, went all winter 2010/11 in a cold frame, then were planted out this spring. The ones planted from seed this spring are alongside them, and there is no difference in size, so I will wait to do next year's leeks this spring. They aren't as fat as I'd like, I think I would have had to water them a lot through the summer, but the blanching is nice, and they are super clean because I blanched with a cardboard tp tube. The flavor is a bit stronger than grocery store leeks.

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I almost never do 'NY resolutions', but I would really like to try & rehabilitate my backyard this year (or maybe I should just move my efforts to the front yard). I really like where I live, & I guess if I man up, & remove a lot of water-sucking maples out of of the yard ( but they're mature trees), I could (despite the dogs, at 1+, they're slightly less destructive), have a nice, productive (have 7 earth boxes) backyard...anyone else thinking about what to do in the yard?

Keep the mature maples. Put the earthboxes in the front yard. Front yards are the new back yards.
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I will consider that, but mature maple in the front, too, & the scarce sunny spots are occupied or far enough from water to make the EBs a PITA...

Longer hose? Dripping hose? EB don't care where you put them, driveway or sidewalk are fine. We are converts.
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I just got sucked away from writing by the seed catalogs. I'm usually a buy-in-person person, but I wanted some specific varieties of tomatoes - black cherry and sungolds, to be exact. Then there are the Romano pole beans, the Hungarian paprika peppers, and the celery root. I've never grown it, but thought I'd give it a try this year. I'm so looking forward to summer.

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Sungolds are my absolute favorite tomato- cherry sized, w/ a perfect blend of acid & sweet, & one of the few that have produced, in the last couple years of changing conditions (even last year, when all my other tomatoes puked). I'm looking forward to summer, too-tomatoes, chili peppers, Thai basil, lemongrass, cucumbers....

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I tried and failed with cucumber for the past two years, beetle borne wilt completely destroys them before they yield the first proper crop. However, they were grown in an established community garden colonized by every sort of disease and insect. I had good luck in the past growing them in a home garden where the disease and insect pressure was less intense.

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The warm winter had some of the remaining leeks beginning to split and grow again, so I dug them all, chopped and cooked them briefly in a bit of butter and olive oil, then into the freezer they went. I'll plant more seeds this weekend. Mine had no grit in them, and I found this article on leeks that explained how I unintentionally prevented the dirty leek problem. Mâche and cauliflower seeds will go into flats this weekend too.

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I am going to have multiple plots this year, one in a community plot in Arlington, which I will give up as soon as I can harvest the giant investment I have there with onions and garlic, one in Leesburg, and all around the new yard.

At home I've set up 4 blueberry bushes, and I'm going to put some asparagus and rhubarb roots in tomorrow I hope. I just finished round one of seed starting, a flat of various tomatoes, peppers and eggplants. I need to buy another flat to round out my seed starting. I'm ready for Spring!

In my Arlington plot I have 100+ cloves in the ground and at least 25 potato(multiplying) onions so I will have a giant surplus of that come summer. It's going to be a good year.

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I planted peas, fava beans, sweet peas, beets and some Costco summer flower bulbs last weekend. Started some tomatoes, peppers, onion and shallots as well. I started some lettuce, kale, and escarole a few weeks ago and should be planting some lettuce and carrot seeds next week.

Hoping for a nice long soaking rain.

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I started to tackle my backyard today (it's a huge mess), I just wish I could sit in a chair in the middle & direct my crew, but since I don't have one, it was a jumbled start. I did clean out the earth boxes, & stacking containers, & sowed some lettuce & arugula, straightened up the woodpile, burnt a bunch of sticks & twigs in the fire pit. I also set up some ghetto looking barriers, to try & stop the dogs from destroying the Japanese maples-they must be the perfect height & taste for chewing. Still to do-fill all the holes (dogs, again) w/ compost & topsoil, move a couple of things, prune roses, plant more seeds, blow all remaining leaves to center & run over w/ lawn mower, & mulch. I do love spring...

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Put in some lettuce and garlic yesterday. Got some potato "seeds" for planting before St. Patrick's day!

Wonder how we'll do, having had such a mild and dry winter.

Garlic needs to be wintered over? Is it harvested in Spring the following year? How exactly does that work?

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Garlic needs to be wintered over? Is it harvested in Spring the following year? How exactly does that work?

Two seasons according to Maryland Extension service at http://hgic.umd.edu/content/documents/hg16.pdf

March 15-April 15 and October 15-November 15. The ones planted in the fall do better, but I don't expect the ones planted in the spring to take until next spring. I assume they will be ready this summer. We'll see!

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If anyone is planning to put in shallots this spring, head to Super H in Fairfax. The shallots they have out right now are both very fresh and enormous, and the bigger the sets, the bigger the harvest.

What are the chances that they were grown in a pesticide free environment?

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^ I don't think anyone has GMOed shallots. Yet.

I have not had good luck with them, but I've been doing some reading and hope to get a decent harvest this summer. Sets from catalogs, also not organic, have been shockingly expensive compared to $1.99 a pound at H Mart, and the ones I've gotten in the past have been pretty small. I figure it's worth a couple of bucks to see how these do.

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Spring fever, here, so I spent the day out in the yard, & also reread this thread-wish I had the yard I had a few years ago. But there's no going backwards, right?-the pups (they'll be 2 this summer)have changed the yard, which still looks like the surface of the moon, but I can't blame it all on them. I've been lazy, adding a 6' privacy fence has changed the sun patterns, & I still need to remove 4 big maples. We've already taken out trees, but these 4 maples are overtaking my backyard-I have huge surface roots, can't plant a lot of stuff underneath, & even if we take them out, I'll still have 5 large trees-beech, pin oak, maple, & pines.

It's just painful to pay a large amount of money to subtract something, rather than to add something. For now, I'm adding compost to beds, getting the earth boxes ready to plant, looking at the few plants that are coming up (my very favorite thing in the spring)...when I was down in NC, I went to a HS plant sale, & picked up seriously overgrown Beefmaster seedlings, Romas,Thai basil, lemongrass-moving them in & out, until it's warmer...

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I was going to put in a kitchen herb garden over Easter weekend and went over to a local nursery where I had a groupon for half off and the only herbs they had were mints, chives (which have already overtaken a garden box, so I've got aplenty of them) and oregano. I figured I might as well plant weeds as those garden thugs! So the herb patch is on hold until I can buy something that I actually want to plant.

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^DeBaggio is open for the season, though they don't have any warm weather plants out yet. But there are marjoram, oregano, savory, dill, chervil, parsley, lovage, sorrel, sage, several varieties each of thyme and rosemary... enough to get you started.

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Lotte in Fairfax has iron Chinese hand cultivating tools for 6 bucks. They're in the aisle with the pots and pans, and they are better for weeding than anything else I've tried. With the weeds in the yard, I'm thinking I should have bought more than one.

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Has anyone found tarragon with decent scent? So far, I've only found plants with zero fragrance, and my botttle of tarragon vinegar has just a few drops left in it. (Insert culinary crisis emoticon.)

A lot of Russian tarragon, which is easy to propogate, is sold to unsuspecting buyers--it has zero tarragon flavor or aroma. French tarragon, which is quite difficult to propogate, is the one to buy. Even if the plant is labeled French tarragon, be sure to pinch a leaf and sniff before buying.
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A lot of Russian tarragon, which is easy to propogate, is sold to unsuspecting buyers--it has zero tarragon flavor or aroma. French tarragon, which is quite difficult to propogate, is the one to buy. Even if the plant is labeled French tarragon, be sure to pinch a leaf and sniff before buying.

Thanks for the warning. I haven't seen it yet, but I have gotten fragrant and tasty French tarragon in past years from Wright's Nursery on New Hampshire ave in Colesville/Silver Spring. Not in stock yet as of last weekend. I will report here if/when it's available this year.

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I think that April 21st is also when the AHS has a big plant sale at River Farm, also Holly, Woods, & Vines is donating 20% of plant sales & 10% of hard good sales to the Mount Vernon High School Athletic Boosters on that day, so it should be a great day to go out & find some great plants...

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