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The Unc-tanical Gardens

unclefishstick

Fancy Janitor
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i figured the beans i could just use the trellis on one end of the main bed,or do them in hanging baskets and just let them trail down
 

hippie_lettuce

Garden Nymph
Veteran
Do you think beans like climbing up or climbing down? We let them just grow up a 3' tall fence last year and they did not do as well as I'd like....thinking of making a hoop with cement remesh this year for the pole beans & squash.
 

unclefishstick

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to be honest i really havent the faintest idea about most of this stuff,im trying to not clutter my head with too many preconceived notions about whats going to do well here aside from what i see available as starts at the store as a rough working guideline to timing ....its all one big unc-speriment...im going to learn best by doing...i tried to go to the local coop volunteer work days a few times but they were always frickin late and its a 12 mile ride each way...
 
S

SeaMaiden

Do you think beans like climbing up or climbing down? We let them just grow up a 3' tall fence last year and they did not do as well as I'd like....thinking of making a hoop with cement remesh this year for the pole beans & squash.

IMLE (in my limited experience) pole beans want to go up. Up, up and away-hay-hay, in my beautiful, my beautiful, BA-LOON!

Sorry, 5th grade chorus popped into my head.
 
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SeaMaiden

Little choice, my friend. You either get old, or you die. No two ways about it. :)
 

unclefishstick

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:chin: so true....the irony of life eh? by the time you're old enough to have acquired some wisdom and experience your body is half wrecked by all the stupid shit you did before you wised up!
half the reason i even have raised beds is so i dont have to work on my knees in the garden!
 

lost in a sea

Lifer
Veteran
dwarf beans make life easy.. my favourite so far is a dwarf french yellow wax bean, i just started some again for this year, brilliant taste, great producers from early in the season till the end..
 

unclefishstick

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i need to get cracking here,i think march 15 is the first day they recommend for in ground planting,so far i have just been dragging the tray of starts back and forth,pretty soon i can start hardening them off to the cold...this week i should be able to drag the big plant stand outside and get the rest of the cactus out for the year,cant wait to see what a summer of high desert sun will do for them..
 

hippie_lettuce

Garden Nymph
Veteran
I think you would like the Ruth Stout book. She said she loves her method of gardening because a) she's old b) she doesn't want to work too hard in the garden, weeding and hoeing & tilling.Old or young I don't want to do that! lol

We really liked our beans last year, Kentucky Wonder and McCaslan. I'll have to look for some dwarf beans!

..That's what I've been saying for the past two weeks, Unc. I need to order some more veggie beans & think about onion sets but I keep putting it off.
 

unclefishstick

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i think i have the kentucky wonder beans,and some purple ones too,i dont even have the foggiest what i have to be honest,i just started buying stuff,im sure none of it is particularly exotic...i was looking at one of the cactus sites,they had heirloom tomato cuttings available,all sorts of crazy ass looking tomatoes....im still waiting for the cactus places to open for shipping for the season...im ready to move up to some larger specimens...
 
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SeaMaiden

I can't find my saved Japanese black trifele tomato seeds ANYWHERE. I am so bummed. Thankfully I still have some of the original, but that's two years of acclimatization that I lose if I can't find the package of my own saved seeds.

Our last frost date isn't for another two months, Cinco de Mayo.
 

unclefishstick

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easter is about the very latest any frost ever occurs here,plus you have to cinsider in my case the sooner things have a chance to spread their roots the more likely they will be to survive when it 100 degrees out everyday....

lol,i think i better hold back on more seeds for right now,im not recreating svalbard here!
too bad the bloody hippies from the coop can never show up on time,it would be good to talk to some local gardeners,especially where to get bulk organic soil stuff....weird thing,after living my life to the tic tic tic of timers for the last decade i can bother myself to be prompt...so people being late is a pet peeve....
 

hippie_lettuce

Garden Nymph
Veteran
The San Marzanos were my favorite last year. You're lucky about your last frost date. We have to wait until May to even think about hardening off seedlings. We went onto Craigslist last year to find horse manure and rabbit poop that had composted a bit. Both free.
 

unclefishstick

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and the season extends to thanksgiving most years,there shouldnt be anything to really prevent year round gardening in the main bed if i choose,they grow crops year round in the valley here,onions and cabbage in the winter mainly....this has been a long term plan of mine,next step,get some dang solar panels on the roof,we get 300+ days a year of sun...i have 2 roofs to work with,i should be able to generate more than enough to spin the meter backwards all day,pobably enough to zero out the grow room bill...
 

hippie_lettuce

Garden Nymph
Veteran
Solar panels are going for cheap now. The batteries are the things that are most expensive.
Went to an orchid show today..freeganja bought a cleistocactus. How do we care for this thing? We got a couple of orchids, and one smells like Little Debbie's cakes.
 

unclefishstick

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Veteran
i would go with no batteries,just a solar station generating watts during the day,its cheaper to install if you dont bother with inverters for the house,just crank out juice all day while the house still runs off the grid...i just want to spin the meter backwards during the day and draw most of my power during off peak hours when it cost half as much...


if its still cold out just barely water it until it starts showing new growth when it warms up...

take a pic of it and put it up here so i can identify it better...
 

hippie_lettuce

Garden Nymph
Veteran
I'll post a pic up of it tomorrow..can't find the camera. They had some succulents there and this one only cost a couple of dollars. It's only 5" tall.
 
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SeaMaiden

We had our home completely converted to grid-tied solar power the year before last. Federal stimulus funds at work. Each state has been given funds with the directive that they be used to make Americans' homes more energy efficient, and I know for a fact that California, one of the more successful states, still has funds to disburse. In California it's called the Home Energy Retrofit Program. You should see if your state still has funds to disburse, because if you qualify it could end up being close to our deal, which was a 15yr loan @0%APR (free money, not even kidding) that was constructed to be equal to an average monthly power payment. The company that did the installation was very thorough and did a lot more stuff than just the solar array. They also used the best quality products, such as German solar panels that came with a 25yr warranty.

Seriously, look into this, you could qualify and while it takes a long time to go through the whole thing, a year later we've been on 100% solar for a year and couldn't be happier.
 
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