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Author Topic: The Gardening Thread  (Read 35358 times)

Unlos

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Re: The Gardening Thread
« Reply #180 on: June 30, 2019, 05:53:22 AM »
Here are some pics of my garden patch, and some questions
Earlier this year:

And now:

The soil is mostly clay, rich in minerals but low nitrogen (it's a community garden so they've analysed it). I haven't used fertilizer this year, and I think I should have as two of the squares had cabbage family plants last year (cauliflower and kale). This year I have strawberries, chives, and maybe some beans and sweatpeas if the weather don't kill them off - A very cold and wet spring killed the squash and early carrots. And white clover (trifolium repens)! Remember my project of last year of encouraging it by refraining from weeding the stuff? It's now covering a good part of the sides and one of the squares, now I'm trying to seed all the rest with dry flower heads which I now have in plenty. So to the question: Should I let the clover stay in between the strawberries, as I have, or does that increase the risk of mildew and rot?
(The strawberries are probably planted just a bit too densely but I'm planning on thinning a bit later)
« Last Edit: June 30, 2019, 07:18:04 AM by Unlos »
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Róisín

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Re: The Gardening Thread
« Reply #181 on: June 30, 2019, 11:10:25 AM »
The white clover, being a nitrogen fixer, enriches the soil, which is needful after growing brassicas (cabbage family plants), because they are heavy feeders. Clover shouldn’t hurt the strawberries. What strawberries really enjoy is an acidic mulch, because in the wild they are forest floor plants, so if you give them a good layer of pine needles it not only keeps the plants healthier but keeps the berries off the dirt. Same goes for all the brambles, also blueberries, cranberries, bilberries, cloudberries and all that lot.

I hope you are keeping some of the flowers to enjoy as tea, and some of the seeds to sprout. White clover sprouts are not as rich tasting as those of red clover, but still good. The garden pictures are nice.

And midwestmutt, to judge by the photos you put up, those bulbs look much more like what we here call daylilies.
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Unlos

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Re: The Gardening Thread
« Reply #182 on: June 30, 2019, 01:09:53 PM »
Thank you, Róisín! I can try it out for tea, although my tastes normally run more to citrus and ginger-type infusions. I love the smell of the flowers, though!
Thanks for the tip on the mulch!
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thorny

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Re: The Gardening Thread
« Reply #183 on: July 01, 2019, 09:32:39 AM »
Depending on the kind of clover it might outgrow and excessively shade the strawberries. If it's doing that, I'd pull or cut it back away from the berries enough to allow air circulation (and deter mold) and let them get sun and also let you find them for harvest. If none of that is an issue then I wouldn't worry about it.

The beans and peas are also nitrogen fixers, especially if you've inoculated them. With those and all that clover I doubt you need to add additional nitrogen but depending on the crop and the soil you might need something else. When did the community garden do the analysis -- fairly recently, or years ago? Do you have access to recent tests?
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Unlos

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Re: The Gardening Thread
« Reply #184 on: July 02, 2019, 12:55:04 PM »
Thank you, Thorny :) I didn't know inoculation of legumes was a thing before you mentioned it - we haven't done that. I haven't seen inoculation pellets in our local gardening shops, but that may be because I haven't looked for it. Interesting! I'm leaving all the wild legumes so hopefully they'll have some nice nitrogen fixing bacteria in their roots. I'll be super happy to post some pictures of them later, there are at least three different clovers, bird's foot trefoil, vetch and ..something I think might be a sort of vetch but am not quite sure about.

The analysis was done when the garden was launched two years ago, but I haven't got access to the tests beyond næringsfattig mellomleire which I think translates as nutrient poor clay loam.
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midwestmutt

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Re: The Gardening Thread
« Reply #185 on: July 03, 2019, 01:34:45 PM »
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Róisín

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Re: The Gardening Thread
« Reply #186 on: July 03, 2019, 09:29:02 PM »
Those are lovely! What colour are the flowers on that last taller lily? It looks more like the shape of a tiger lily.
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wavewright62

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Re: The Gardening Thread
« Reply #187 on: July 03, 2019, 11:42:43 PM »
Taking a very wild guess on those blue-flowered ones, they resemble wandering jew to me?
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Róisín

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Re: The Gardening Thread
« Reply #188 on: July 03, 2019, 11:53:55 PM »
Reckon you are right. Might be Tradescantia fluminensis, or where Midwestmutt is, maybe T. virginiana, the small-leaved spiderwort, which I think is a native plant in his area?
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midwestmutt

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Re: The Gardening Thread
« Reply #189 on: July 03, 2019, 11:55:32 PM »
Quote from: Róisín on July 03, 2019, 09:29:02 PM
Those are lovely! What colour are the flowers on that last taller lily? It looks more like the shape of a tiger lily.Yellow day lily, a beautiful canary yellow, you'll see in a few weeks.
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midwestmutt

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Re: The Gardening Thread
« Reply #190 on: July 18, 2019, 08:55:36 PM »
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Róisín

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Re: The Gardening Thread
« Reply #191 on: July 18, 2019, 09:45:56 PM »
Yeah, I think so. Those look like tiger lilies, so pretty!
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refract3d

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Re: The Gardening Thread
« Reply #192 on: July 19, 2019, 09:50:54 PM »
Radish experiment is going well still, and I have a small but growing basil as well. Hopefully they will make it through my upcoming move intact!

I love tiger lilies :)
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Solokov

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Re: The Gardening Thread
« Reply #193 on: January 13, 2020, 08:37:54 AM »
Stumbled accross this gem, I think everyone in this thread will appreciate.









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thorny

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Re: The Gardening Thread
« Reply #194 on: January 13, 2020, 11:58:12 AM »
Quote from: Solokov on January 13, 2020, 08:37:54 AM
Stumbled accross this gem, I think everyone in this thread will appreciate.

 :)) :)) :))

Thanks!
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