How does your garden grow?

[Snowflake]

Since I am going to have a small garden I am keeping it with variety and not quantity. The plants and seed we now have, that I will be setting out tomorrow are Potomatoes (Tomatoes with Potato roots, You pick the tomatoes and in the fall dig up the potatoes) Salisfy, onions, garlic, parsnips, sweet corn, squash and cucumbers. We have a very short growing season, I do not really expect to get any vegetables except for the root veggies Salisfy, parsnips, and onions. But, Inshallah the summer may last long enough for the others.

Nice selection you have there mashaAllah. But Potomatoes? There's actually a plant that grows tomatoes then later potatoes? How? lol :S

We have mulberry trees, both the purple and the white. Two white, one purple. But our fruits do not grow in long strings like in that picture. I think long strings would certainly make them easier to collect from the trees! Ours just grow as individual berries. Like this picture I googled:

I've never tasted the round variety. Do they taste similar to blackberries/raspberries? The long ones are native to Pakistan and have a musky berry smell. I wonder if you can get seeds from the internet. They really do taste exceptional

Hmmm, what kind of plants are they?

If they are vegetables, you might need to thin them out to allow each plant to grow healthily.
Trying to pull them out can cause damage to the neighbours' roots too.
My husband thins out the veggie seedlings by taking a small pair of scissors (such as nail scissors) and cutting the unwanted plants off just above soil level. (I always accuse him of 'playing God', by deciding which seedling should live and which should die LOL... but it does work ...)

Alternatively you can just let nature take its cause and let the plants grow until the stronger outgrow the weaker ... but you might end up with less healthy or strong plants overall.

Lol, men have stronger hearts sis. I tried to dig a clump out for my mum, only for the soil to crumble and crush the seedlings. It looked like mass murder.


I can't remember what the plants are called, but they are just flowers from a mixed seed packet. I tried separating them with a dinner fork but the soil isn't clumpy and just crumbles taking the seedlings with it. So I'll let Allah take care of them

 

[Woodrow]

Nice selection you have there mashaAllah. But Potomatoes? There's actually a plant that grows tomatoes then later potatoes? How? lol :S

It is an old farmer's trick that goes back a long time. I leaned it from my grandfather. The purpose is to save garden space. Tomatoes and potatoes are actually variations of the same plant species, As such they intergraft. You take a small tomato plant and stick it roots into a seed potato section than plant as if you are planting a potato. You end up with the tomato top and the potato roots. Really very easy to do. You can now buy some ready made grafts kits them.

http://www.microgear.net/gwinford/tompot.htm




(Unneeded and a waste of money, can do the same without any special tools and it is a very ancient thing and not a new discovery.)

 

[PouringRain]

I've never tasted the round variety. Do they taste similar to blackberries/raspberries? The long ones are native to Pakistan and have a musky berry smell. I wonder if you can get seeds from the internet. They really do taste exceptional

The darker ones have more flavor and a somewhat tart taste. Our white ones are not so tart and have a very mild flavor. I prefer the dark ones better. LOL

 

[Woodrow]

I was going to start my garden today. But the temperatures dropped fast we even had a fairly heavy snow early this morning. Seems winter is going to hold on a little longer. So that means you all get stuck looking at the 17 horses we bought yesterday, We got 7 yearlings and 10 older ones. They look a little rough, they spent the winter out in pasture and are now shedding their winter coats and need to regain the weight they lost over the winter. We plan to resale all but 2 of them after we put some weight on them, trim their hooves, brush them up and get them nice and shiney and train them to a saddle.

Here are the 7 yearlings.

Needless to say this filly talked us into keeping her and not plan to sell her.

Here are the 10 older ones. We have them seperated from our other horses for the time being.

We will be keeping this Buckskin mare. We spent the day working with her and she should make a very good cattle horse.

 

[PouringRain]

Beautiful horses! I like the one with the white spot between the eyes.

 

[Woodrow]

Beautiful horses! I like the one with the white spot between the eyes.

She is one of the ones we are going to keep.
A very gentle line and we will be able to train her for inexperienced riders to ride.

I can't believe I actually started planting today. Beautiful warm day. Although we will probably get a few more snow storms before the end of May, it looks like the danger of extreme freezing is over. I began planting my Potomatoes today.

Here is how I plant them:

Begin with tomato plants and seed potatoes (Potatoes with growing eyes)

Cut a hole in the potato about the same size and shape as the Root ball on the tomato plant.

Stuff the roots of the tomato into the potato

Stick it into the ground and cover it with dirt up past the lowest branch or leaves on the tomato

Here are the first 5 planted:

My garden at the moment as seen from the back door. I have a lot left to do. I only have 10 days to 2 weeks to plant every veggie I intend to plant, if I expect them to produce anything during our very short growing season.

My farming methods may seem odd to most of you. I disturb the soil as little as possible when planting, do not use any insecticides or pesticides and absolutely no artificial fertilizers. I also do very little weeding. As long as I can still see the veggies, the wild plants will be left alone.

 

[glo]

I love the idea of the potomatoes, Woodrow.

I was telling my hubby about it, and he was wondering how, if at all, the system was different from simply planting a potato in the ground and a tomato plant on top.
Is there an advantage to your method?

 

[glo]

Today I planted out several young plants:


Mange touts

Runner beans

Broad beans (First time we are growing these)

Broccoli

 

[Woodrow]

I love the idea of the potomatoes, Woodrow.

I was telling my hubby about it, and he was wondering how, if at all, the system was different from simply planting a potato in the ground and a tomato plant on top.
Is there an advantage to your method?

The biggest advantage is for small gardens as you can get more variety in a small space. You grow both the tomatoes and the potatoes in the exact same space. The disadvantage is you are getting a lot less potatoes from each seed potato if I had cut those as normally I would for planting potatoes only, I could have gotten at least four to six plants from each seed potato.

 

[Woodrow]

I love the idea of the potomatoes, Woodrow.

I was telling my hubby about it, and he was wondering how, if at all, the system was different from simply planting a potato in the ground and a tomato plant on top.
Is there an advantage to your method?

The biggest advantage is for small gardens as you can get more variety in a small space. You grow both the tomatoes and the potatoes in the exact same space. The disadvantage is you are getting a lot less potatoes from each seed potato if I had cut those as normally I would for planting potatoes only, I could have gotten at least four to six plants from each seed potato.

 

[marwen]

The biggest advantage is for small gardens as you can get more variety in a small space. You grow both the tomatoes and the potatoes in the exact same space. The disadvantage is you are getting a lot less potatoes from each seed potato if I had cut those as normally I would for planting potatoes only, I could have gotten at least four to six plants from each seed potato.

Yes, and the advantage is also (for the tomato plant) is that it find in the potatoe seed all the minerals it needs, which is really difficult to find in the pure soil.

Inorganic constituents of Potato (minerals) :

Dry basis(Mg. Per 100 gm)
P 43.0 – 605
Ca 10-120
Mg 46-216
Na 0-332
K 1394-2825
Fe 3-18.5
S 43-423
Cl 45-805
Zn 1.7-2.2
Cu 0.6-2.8
Si 5.1 – 17.3
Mn 0.18-8.5
Al 0.2-35.4

Dry Basis(PPM)
Br 4.8-8.5
B 4.5-8.6
I 0.5-3.87
Li Trace
As 0.35
Co 0.065
Ni. 0.26
Mo 0.26

source..

 

[glo]

The biggest advantage is for small gardens as you can get more variety in a small space. You grow both the tomatoes and the potatoes in the exact same space. The disadvantage is you are getting a lot less potatoes from each seed potato if I had cut those as normally I would for planting potatoes only, I could have gotten at least four to six plants from each seed potato.

Please keep sending pictures as the potomatoes grow, Woodrow.
Will the tomato plant not get overgrown by the bushy potato plant?

Today I pulled out lat year's leaf beet, which had started bolting.
I have processed the remaining leafs and stems, ready to go in the freezer.

I have planted cucumbers into the space left by the leaf beet.

Suddenly it has become really lovely and warm. Hopefully the plants in the garden will start taking off soon!

We are eagerly waiting for the first strawberries and raspberries, although I expect they will be another couple of weeks or so ...

 

[Woodrow]

Please keep sending pictures as the potomatoes grow, Woodrow.
Will the tomato plant not get overgrown by the bushy potato plant?

Today I pulled out lat year's leaf beet, which had started bolting.
I have processed the remaining leafs and stems, ready to go in the freezer.

I have planted cucumbers into the space left by the leaf beet.

Suddenly it has become really lovely and warm. Hopefully the plants in the garden will start taking off soon!

We are eagerly waiting for the first strawberries and raspberries, although I expect they will be another couple of weeks or so ...

There is no separate potato top. The tomato plant is the top and the potato is the roots. They graft together forming a single plant with a tomato top and a potato bottom.

I'm back to square one. The very night I posted those pictures, we had a hard freeze and all the plants froze. We had a few light snow falls since then, without any more hard freezes. But, I decided to wait until June 1 to replant. I'm still trying to find out just how short of a growing season we do have here. We had a very short one in Minnesota But, here it is going to be much shorter. Although we are only 100 miles further North we are a a much higher elevation. About 1000 feet higher.

 

[glo]

And I thought our growing season was fairly short ... :uuh:

Good luck with your second attempt!

 

[PouringRain]

Two days ago I harvested all my potatoes. I can't tell you if they are good or not, because I do not eat potatoes due to my allergies. LOL The family liked them! Very shortly I will have zucchini and squash. Already they are growing. I will post pics later today if I have time.

 

[Ummu Sufyaan]

i need the names of plants that grow and attach themselves to walls...i think they are termed as climbers and an example of then in the jasmine plant. what are some other varieties of these plants that can be used as a screen when planted and supported by lattice?

 

[glo]

Here are some plants which climb well up lattices or similar supports:

Clematis (Very beautiful, and comes in all sorts of different colours!)

Honeysuckle (Smells lovely, and great for attracting bees too!)

Virginia creeper (Creeping ivy with amazing autumn colours)

Morning glory (An annual plant, which can grow up to 3 metres in one season)

Passion flower (Beautiful flowers, which produce edible fruit in warmer climates)

 

[PouringRain]

Climbing roses are another. We have those on our trellis. On the fence on our back lot we have a yellow flower that climbs (a vine) but I can't recall the name or I'd put it here. In the front we have ones with purple all over.

 

[glo]

Very shortly I will have zucchini and squash. Already they are growing. I will post pics later today if I have time.

You are kidding!

This is how big (or little) our zucchini plants are at the moment.

 

[glo]

Here are a few more garden pictures:


The chives are in full flower now.

The bumblebees loves the chives especially!

We are waiting for the strawberries to ripen ... patience is required, it will be another week or two ...

These beautiful snapdragons have found a crack in the garden wall to grow in!