The Gardening Thread

[GVF]

I know you all have been giddy with anticipation to see my completed project so here ya go:


Decided to place this in the front end of my current garden since it was so long and I always had deadspace to fill with pumpkins and weeds. So it does catch the full frontal of strong westerly winds and storms. I have since beefed up the internal bracing and added an entry ramp with leftover rock. Caulking/sealing is complete. I did learn that until you get the silicone on the panels a formidable wind will blow them right out regardless of what you've done. Will convert the wind strings with a more substantial tie down to the wood for added peace of mind. Also will prob add some interior ceiling bracing

Will be boxing in the outriggers and move my strawberry plants over. Which is why I left them uncut. Also have seeded a bevy of herbs now, and will rig up a cord thru the base so I can hook up a drop cord from the house to run the heat mat and grow light next month. Will also add the clay pot/candle set up to ward off low temps inside the house.

I did learn a few things, but don't regret purchasing this particular unit.

1. All "affordable" greenhouses will require beefing up anyways.
2. I got this 6x10 on sale for same price I was going to pay the 6x8 and it has a taller roof and side walls than most models in this class. This one is 86" at the peak with sidewalls in the 60"+ range. Most were 76-78" high with barely 48" side walls. This one had free shipping which allowed me to get a little extra for virtually same price overall.
3. DIY improvements so it would last past the first storm will definitely cost aleast 60% of what you paid for the unit. Unless a $2000 unit is in your budget.
4. In the end I prob got $650 total in a $350 unit. If it was just me spending money, I'd hopefully had figured that out before hand. I'd be doing the foundation anyway which only cost me four 4x4 and $20 rock. Rest of my rock was free. I did lay down some money for added bracing and extra fasteners and stuff. I got a slew of corner clips and flat bar affixing it to the wood inside and out. $650 may be stretching my total outlay as there were other things in some of those Lowe's trips. I picked it out as a xmas gift, so going with this over a $700 unit that may or may not have had any better re-enforcements included was just better optics. The other stuff could be dribbled in while waiting on erection weather. Decided to pop in some wire panel supports at the midpoints of the walls for wind support and the ceiling panels for load support. Got some laying around I'll cut for the puropose.
5. If she makes it thru this next week unscathed, then I will feel better until I get tested by the spring winds and storms. We are not immune to some pretty violent storms at times. Truth is you gotta be in the $2500 plus range to get into decently rated greenhouses and few of those exceeded 60mph.
6. My only regret for storms and winds is that I didn't consider orientation when setting it up. And with 24" rebar at opposing angles drove thru the 4x4's. it would be an ordeal to re-position. The long side is facing dead west. No prob if I had put at far end of garden close to tree line. I was thinking of how I would lay out garden choosing to start the near end of hte garden with the greenhouse. I really should have rotated it 90 degrees. I did have some better protected areas to place the unit, but at the expense of sun, which is the point.

 

[Grudenator]

Has anyone used black plastic In the winter to kill off grass/weeds in your garden before spring? Last year I couldn’t for the life of me keep grass and weeds out during gardening season. I went through it with a tiller atleast 4 times before planting and the grass was only 1/2” before tilling.

 

[norrislakevol]

Has anyone used black plastic In the winter to kill off grass/weeds in your garden before spring? Last year I couldn’t for the life of me keep grass and weeds out during gardening season. I went through it with a tiller atleast 4 times before planting and the grass was only 1/2” before tilling.

After years of fighting weeds, I started using black plastic. It is especially good for vine crops. Just cut a 4 inch hole in the plastic where you want to plant. Holds moisture in and everything. If you really want to get rid of the weeds then I'd recommend only planting half your garden, cutting holes in the plastic for the half you plant, then keep all the other side covered all summer. Any seed that sprouts dies. Most garden weeds are annuals. The next year, till the part that was covered all the way and this can be the area you use for Potatoes and such. Invert the solution the following year. I used the thick, 6 mill stuff last year. I am hoping to get two years of use out of the thicker stuff before it starts cracking. Black plastic works like charm. One word of warning: Weight it down good, and add extra weights where your young plants are so that wind doesn't blow the plastic up on top of them, which will scorch them. T Posts works well for this.

 

[GVF]

Has anyone used black plastic In the winter to kill off grass/weeds in your garden before spring? Last year I couldn’t for the life of me keep grass and weeds out during gardening season. I went through it with a tiller atleast 4 times before planting and the grass was only 1/2” before tilling.

Pretty much same as Norris said. My step son is a commited user of black plastic, and drip irrigation. He runs his drip tape for his rows. Lays his plastic. And cuts his holes for his plants. He ties all his drip tapes together in a DIY manifold of sorts at one end and hooks to garden hose with a timer. He's a set it and forget it gardener cause he travels alot during growing and harvesting seasons for his job. He will pull his plastic off during the off season. He is a no-till/no weed killer gardener, so any weeds he needs to exterminate before laying everything out gets burned off. Pretty effective. Burns off hte weeds and kills the seeds.

I am acutally not doing plastic this year anyways. Got a full roll of well cured hay. And I think we can get free loads of wood chips/mulch at the county processing station. Prob going that route this year to improve my soil. And put up trellis tunnels. Ideas I'm wanting to try to simplify and go vertical where I can. And get out of the weed growing business. I may do plastic on the melons area. Not sure yet. I never get many anyway. Critters always get the ripe ones the day before I go to get them. Deer, or something, love sweet melons. The whole thing vanishes.

 

[Grudenator]

Pretty much same as Norris said. My step son is a commited user of black plastic, and drip irrigation. He runs his drip tape for his rows. Lays his plastic. And cuts his holes for his plants. He ties all his drip tapes together in a DIY manifold of sorts at one end and hooks to garden hose with a timer. He's a set it and forget it gardener cause he travels alot during growing and harvesting seasons for his job. He will pull his plastic off during the off season. He is a no-till/no weed killer gardener, so any weeds he needs to exterminate before laying everything out gets burned off. Pretty effective. Burns off hte weeds and kills the seeds.

I am acutally not doing plastic this year anyways. Got a full roll of well cured hay. And I think we can get free loads of wood chips/mulch at the county processing station. Prob going that route this year to improve my soil. And put up trellis tunnels. Ideas I'm wanting to try to simplify and go vertical where I can. And get out of the weed growing business. I may do plastic on the melons area. Not sure yet. I never get many anyway. Critters always get the ripe ones the day before I go to get them. Deer, or something, love sweet melons. The whole thing vanishes.

I guess I was wrong in my thinking. I was under the impression that putting the plastic down during offseason and taking it up during spring, everything would be dead and be clear for most of the gardening season. I didn’t really wanna plant with the plastic down. I just don’t know of another way how people keep their gardens so clean and weedless

 

[Tin Man]

I guess I was wrong in my thinking. I was under the impression that putting the plastic down during offseason and taking it up during spring, everything would be dead and be clear for most of the gardening season. I didn’t really wanna plant with the plastic down. I just don’t know of another way how people keep their gardens so clean and weedless

Exie has posted of using black plastic during the run up to planting in her garden beds. I’ve not read her posting specifically about killing weed seed, but of warming the soil - she’s in the NC mountains, above 2000’ asl.

I weed my garden patch during the winter months, till in organic amendments (I make compost year round), plant in the Spring, and mulch with wheat straw. I weed periodically during the spring and summer, but I’m a bit lazy about doing so in the Fall. Weeds never overwhelm my garden. I’m an organic grower.

 

[GVF]

I guess I was wrong in my thinking. I was under the impression that putting the plastic down during offseason and taking it up during spring, everything would be dead and be clear for most of the gardening season. I didn’t really wanna plant with the plastic down. I just don’t know of another way how people keep their gardens so clean and weedless

That would go a long way what you are wanting to do. Going that route, I would add a cheap hand torch to your arsenal and burn off any thing as it emerges to kill the weed and it's seed.

If you are wanting a weed free bare soil garden, I'd winterize with the black plastic. Wait long as possible to remove. Go no-till. And keep a torch handy for weekly burns. You should stay pretty well ahead. In my case, I'm needing to improve my soil and control weeds as much as possible. My garden is 20x80. Prob could easily contribute 20+ feet back to the yard though. So, I'm trying some different methods last year or two of decreasing the late seasons weeds. It eventually gets away from me.

If you know where some of these clean gardens are, don't be shy about stopping and asking. A good gardener will love to share with you. Then share with us.

Also hit up Exie in here. @VolNExile. She's quite the gardener. Residential backyard and deck is a full on raised bed & container weed free mecca. And they've just converted their front yard to a no-mow wonderland this past year.

There is also a Garden Thread in the Zone. Make sure you post your question over there too. Alot of us migrate between the two, but some may not. There are some quite accomplished gardeners more than me in here.

 

[walkenvol]

I only have weed issues when my leaf mulch gets too thin

 

[GVF]

Exie has posted of using black plastic during the run up to planting in her garden beds. I’ve not read her posting specifically about killing weed seed, but of warming the soil - she’s in the NC mountains, above 2000’ asl.

I weed my garden patch during the winter months, till in organic amendments (I make compost year round), plant in the Spring, and mulch with wheat straw. I weed periodically during the spring and summer, but I’m a bit lazy about doing so in the Fall. Weeds never overwhelm my garden. I’m an organic grower.

I forgot about your set up. It rather nice, and beneficial. I'm kinda migrating your way as I adapt to aging, except for the compost making. I'm trying the off-season green manure crop followed by no-tilling and straw/wood chip mulching this year.

 

[GVF]

I only have weed issues when my leaf mulch gets too thin

I made use of my utter abundance of leaves from all my beech trees this past gardening season. I mower blow them over by the old dog pen and they percolate against the fence. I used them on my tomatoes last year with great success. I laid it on as thick as the supply allowed. No weeds in the maters. I always used straw anyway on my tomato plants. this was just a ploy to get the same without a $20 trip to the store when I had so many leaves begging me to use them. I wish I had a bagger system on my mower. All my fall leaf mowing would get collected and dumped in the garden. I do blow what I can over there, and then got the bright idea to haul the rest over on a tarp.

 

[Go aeiou]

I only have weed issues when my leaf mulch gets too thin

I have about a foot of leaves now. It'll be a couple of inches by late April.

 

[GVF]

Exie has posted of using black plastic during the run up to planting in her garden beds. I’ve not read her posting specifically about killing weed seed, but of warming the soil - she’s in the NC mountains, above 2000’ asl.

I weed my garden patch during the winter months, till in organic amendments (I make compost year round), plant in the Spring, and mulch with wheat straw. I weed periodically during the spring and summer, but I’m a bit lazy about doing so in the Fall. Weeds never overwhelm my garden. I’m an organic grower.

I'm wanting to say she periodically rakes back her mulch and soil and replaces cardboard on hte bottom for weed control and all the good stuff. I may be wrong.

 

[Grudenator]

Thank y’all I greatly appreciate the feedback!

 

[GVF]

Thank y’all I greatly appreciate the feedback!

Make sure you hang around. These two gardening threads get lit as seeding time approaches for the grow lights and heat mats. And stays pretty lit through the season. I enjoy seeing everyone else's successes, and I hope I've imparted some ideas, as I have picked up quite a few. We even have one member that has a huge sized garden and plants it very spaced out, purposesly. Like tractor tiller spaced out, and he maintains his with that. He just runs his rows with his tractor and keeps it looking fresh tilled all season. We have all sorts in here.

 

[zhangliao04]

Glad to see people are using the black plastic to kill off the unwanted scourges that are weeds. Well, unwanted where they are at lol.

Anywho, it looks like I won’t be actively growing new things this year. #2 is almost here and I doubt I will have the time to grow anything new. Everything in the backyard right now is dormant as expected: 2 peach trees, 2 cherry bushes, 6 blueberries, and a row of raspberries. I still haven’t found time to trim the raspberry’s back to the ground. Really need to do that since they are primocane variety.

Quick question for those with a lot of experience: what method have you found that helps fend off the late frost on buds? I’ve seen things online that you can purchase from little bags for each bud (very time consuming) to bags that cover the whole bush. I was told by an older lady and gentleman near me to just go buy a very cheap bed sheet pack and cover the plants with that. Anybody hear try one or multiple of these methods or got any other methods worth mentioning?

 

[GVF]

I tell ya what's sad. These last couple days of posts in here actually made me sort through and organise my seed packet box yesterday and go ahead and mark the tomatoes I will likely put in the seed tray for the coming adventure.

Will try the old wives tale at lunch of setting up the double clay pot radiator with a candle in my greenhouse to get the temps back up since we are on extended below freezing days with no sun. Will see if that really works or not. Would have done it before work but i'm using parafin oil candle cause it'll burn 115 hours. Problem is I left them in my car so the oil was in a somewhat solid state this morning. Should be ready to go at lunch. Gotta get the temp up so my herbs will sprout. 80 degrees in a greenhouse should sprout the easy germinators in 3-4 days.

Will be rigging up a cord system to run my new high dollar grow light my son got me for xmas. And would be able to plug in heat mat, or a small efficient space heater. Gonna tunnel a short outdoor cord through the gravel bed of the greenhouse under the 4x4. Put an outdoor cover on the end to the outside. Then I'll just have to run a cord to that. Already got a cord most of the way to it cause I have a red heat lamp glowing in the shed for the cats. A Y-splitter and an extra cord and the work is done.


EDIT: Set up the candle radiator at lunch. I know this is not a "heat source" to keep greenhouse around 60degrees or so. But, outside temps at lunch were 27 and greenhouse was 30. So, if it puts off enough ambient heat in an enclosed 6x10 space to raise it above freezing I'd consider it a success. And give me a little wiggle room to get a cord set up for a small space heater. Gonna need the space heater to get hte herbs germinated.

 

[Go aeiou]

I made use of my utter abundance of leaves from all my beech trees this past gardening season. I mower blow them over by the old dog pen and they percolate against the fence. I used them on my tomatoes last year with great success. I laid it on as thick as the supply allowed. No weeds in the maters. I always used straw anyway on my tomato plants. this was just a ploy to get the same without a $20 trip to the store when I had so many leaves begging me to use them. I wish I had a bagger system on my mower. All my fall leaf mowing would get collected and dumped in the garden. I do blow what I can over there, and then got the bright idea to haul the rest over on a tarp.

yeah, a bale of wheat straw was $11 last year. When did it go from $3-4 to $11?
I use primarily Oak leaves and add a little lime.
The biggest problem I have is the (#*^%@) bermuda grass.

 

[GVF]

yeah, a bale of wheat straw was $11 last year. When did it go from $3-4 to $11?
I use primarily Oak leaves and add a little lime.
The biggest problem I have is the (#*^%@) bermuda grass.

Yeah go figure. I get a better stand of bermuda in my garden than I do in my yard.

My mistake last year was not putting cloth or plastic down where my step son wanted me to plant some pumpkins for grow trials. Course my kid was al on board till it was time to do garden maintenance. "Don't need to weed the pumpkins. Kalen said the pumpkin plants would keep the weeds down." Like I just fell of the turnip truck. Needless to say that 400SF or so of garden space was beautiful 18" high bermuda with little visibility of pumkpin vines. THe landscape cloth for the most part did it's job where it was used. It was just a mess at end of season cause it tore to shreds trying pull it back up. Poly woven rolls or heavy black plastic is only way to go if you garden that way. But, where I properly used straw or leaves such as the tomatoes, it was just as weed free as the cloth, and decomposed back to the soil. Or blew away. Whichever came first.

 

[GVF]

Update to the Candle Radiator in the Greenhouse:

Space: 6x10 Greenhouse. In pic above somewhere.
Tools: Two clay pots, and a long burn parafin emergency candle. You cover the hole of the smaller inner pot. Radiant heat funnels up the hole of the out pot.
Expected Results: Minimal. Figured it more likely a hack You Tubers use for money clickbait. Just wanting to see if it would keep the freeze off inside the greenhouse. I am still going to have to run a heater cord out to get it back up to germination temp for the herbs.

What I got from it: Without any clear sun the greenhouse was only 2 degrees at best warmer than air temp. Which has been around 26-27 all week. Condensation has been frozen on the inside. I set this up at noon on Wednesday. At 7am on Thursday, outside temp was 20 degrees. Greenhouse was 31 degrees and all condensation was no longer frozen. So, on a small scale this candle heater trick will work. For keeping over wintering plants from freezing in a small greenhouse overnight, this is a very economical way to do it. And it works just good enough to hold off a freeze. In a larger greenhouse, maybe 2 set-ups. Provided you don't already have heat set up and you are not trying to germinate anything.

Limitations: I don't advocate this being able to heat any room in a house in a power outage. Most are too large and houses too open. However, if one were to hang some sheets and enclose a small area say 6x6 or 8x8, this would help generate some targeted relief. Or maybe in a bathroom or similar sized space. It does have to have time to build up some radiant heat. My results were far better this monring after 20 hours than after work yesterday at the 4 hour mark. But, for the right application, targeted set-up, and low expectations, it can provide some assistance.

 

[zhangliao04]

Update to the Candle Radiator in the Greenhouse:

Space: 6x10 Greenhouse. In pic above somewhere.
Tools: Two clay pots, and a long burn parafin emergency candle. You cover the hole of the smaller inner pot. Radiant heat funnels up the hole of the out pot.
Expected Results: Minimal. Figured it more likely a hack You Tubers use for money clickbait. Just wanting to see if it would keep the freeze off inside the greenhouse. I am still going to have to run a heater cord out to get it back up to germination temp for the herbs.

What I got from it: Without any clear sun the greenhouse was only 2 degrees at best warmer than air temp. Which has been around 26-27 all week. Condensation has been frozen on the inside. I set this up at noon on Wednesday. At 7am on Thursday, outside temp was 20 degrees. Greenhouse was 31 degrees and all condensation was no longer frozen. So, on a small scale this candle heater trick will work. For keeping over wintering plants from freezing in a small greenhouse overnight, this is a very economical way to do it. And it works just good enough to hold off a freeze. In a larger greenhouse, maybe 2 set-ups. Provided you don't already have heat set up and you are not trying to germinate anything.

Limitations: I don't advocate this being able to heat any room in a house in a power outage. Most are too large and houses too open. However, if one were to hang some sheets and enclose a small area say 6x6 or 8x8, this would help generate some targeted relief. Or maybe in a bathroom or similar sized space. It does have to have time to build up some radiant heat. My results were far better this monring after 20 hours than after work yesterday at the 4 hour mark. But, for the right application, targeted set-up, and low expectations, it can provide some assistance.

This appeals to my scientist side. Have you thought about using 2 setups in your space? Or a larger setup?

 

[GVF]

This appeals to my scientist side. Have you thought about using 2 setups in your space? Or a larger setup?

I thought about adding a second set up just out of curiosity. For practical use though, I'd never reach germination temps without burning it down. This method is purely a "survival" defined space technique. But, for those that want to debunk it and say it's a hack, if you set it up properly and define your applicable space of expectations, it does work up to it's inherent limits. And with one candle radiator, I have managed to maintain an 8-10 degree difference in a 6x10x7 enclosed space over 24 hours when it had time to become effective.

 

[GVF]

This appeals to my scientist side. Have you thought about using 2 setups in your space? Or a larger setup?

For your scientist side, I have an ammendment to my post above.

I still have only one set up, but this morning I did pull the wick a little futher out to get a larger flame, but not so much as to smoke. At lunch, the outer pot was getting much hotter to the touch than it was this morning, when the out pot was just more warm to the touch. As for difference in performance, hard to say. Had to be slightly better, but even though sun was out and skies clear, it was still 32. Greenhouse was now 70. Most of which is the sunlight. However last week in 32 range temps and clear skies and sun, the inside temp would be 60-65. Never hit 70 when it was hitting 32 outside.

My take: You have to do the dual clay pot set up. And cover the hole of the smaller inner pot. Not having that convection space would negate the experiment. Alot of videos I've seen debunking the idea only had one pot. or subbed a metal tube they modified, etc. Most all just used a tea light candle, which may or may not make a diff. A long burn candle, or long burn parafin emergency candles are more ideal as you only have to tend them on about a 4 day run. The science part of it does work...Put the pots on bricks to create an air pull and have oxygen. The hole on the small pot is covered so the candle heat doesn't go straight out the top. The inner post get hot and heats the air between the pots. The heated air can be felt coming thru the hole in the outer pot pretty decent once it gets warm enough to convect. Plus you get secondary radiance from the outside of the pots. I'm sure I could improve performance slightly by going to some slightly bigger posts so I'd have room for two candles. Bear in mind, we are still talking in a 6x10x7 enclosed space raising temp about 10-12 dgrees so far. 20 degrees outside. Dead on 32 inside, when I was running only 2-3 degrees over outside under the conditions we were having.

So, If I were just over wintering some plants in my greenhouse and wanted to keep the temp above freezing, this would be an acceptable method that would only cost me maybe $6 of parafin oil a week. Now, if I had plants that had to stay let's say over 50 degrees in those external conditions, I'd prob have to resort to a space heater. Herbs however prob bounce back on a warm day in the shelter. My parsley outside my back door layed over when the first freeze hit, but has not wilted or strayed from healthy green yet after over a week. Pretty sure it stand back up with a few days in the 50's. The rosemary is very hardy for me. I don't bother protecting it.

And since we are getting a projected 6+ inches of snow tomorrow, if it just keeps it to where the snow don't build up on the roof, I'll be elated. I have not been able to caulk in the poly panels on one roof side cause of the weather. Only section of the house that hasn't been sealed up. So, I'm worried those panels could come down with snow load. Just as strong winds blew panels out before I got any caulk applied to seal them in. As a precuation, I threw a tarp over the roof and tied it off to help distribute snow load and just be able to walk over and shake the tarp to clear the roof. So, if this hack heater tests keeps my greenhouse roof clear and melted off, I'm gonna kiss my wife.

 

[Go aeiou]

Glad to see people are using the black plastic to kill off the unwanted scourges that are weeds. Well, unwanted where they are at lol.

Anywho, it looks like I won’t be actively growing new things this year. #2 is almost here and I doubt I will have the time to grow anything new. Everything in the backyard right now is dormant as expected: 2 peach trees, 2 cherry bushes, 6 blueberries, and a row of raspberries. I still haven’t found time to trim the raspberry’s back to the ground. Really need to do that since they are primocane variety.

Quick question for those with a lot of experience: what method have you found that helps fend off the late frost on buds? I’ve seen things online that you can purchase from little bags for each bud (very time consuming) to bags that cover the whole bush. I was told by an older lady and gentleman near me to just go buy a very cheap bed sheet pack and cover the plants with that. Anybody hear try one or multiple of these methods or got any other methods worth mentioning?

Those old folks are wise. sheet, bath towel, multiple bath towels, depends on the size.
this works for a late frost, Typically around 32 degrees. Won't work for a hard freeze.