Topic: Ah, retirement!

[Stormbringer]

East coast bump for info.

[Stormbringer]

I just planted an unusual type of cabbage that produces heads that are only the size of softballs and a few black beauty egplants. The squash are already two inches long and the blooms are unfurled. The tomatoes have trippled in hieght and have blooms. the pumpkins have developedthier first true leaves. The ornamental corn is 3 to 4 inches high.

I bought a mexican fan palm from walmart for 5 bucks that almost immediately started to die. I thought it was fungus due to spotting on the blades but that turned out not to be the case. I repotted it today and when I tapped it out of the pot the soil was not visible. The whole thing was a root bound mass of roots. No wonder it was dying. I scored the rootball and loosened the roots up and swabbed them with a diluted transplant starting solution before moving it into a much bigger pot and trimming the dead fronds.

All of walmart's mexican fan palms are in too small of a container and are apt to desease and then to decease. If you buy one transplant it immediately. But the altenative is 40 dollars for a small one and 250 for a ten foot one at the home improvement stoors. Get a small one and transplant it.  

[Stormbringer]

Any of you durned Easterners got Paw Paw trees? Mine need help.

[Capt. Mike]

Try www.fred.net/kathy/pawpaws.html  I don't recall ever seeing them while growing up in western NY, but apparently they grow up into Canada.

Mike
   

[Stormbringer]

Thanks. I'll check it out.

 I've got two remaining of four bare root plants I got a couple of years ago. One is showing signs of life, the other is hanging on by a branch and has two buds one of which may actually make a leaf. the other two died but one may have only died back to the root as there is an unacounted for tree popping up in it's place that may just be a paw paw. I don't know yet. however if it is it is growing too fast to match the profile thus far but the leaves look about right from what I can tell (and it is hard to tell by leaves on a fresh sprouted tree what they are). Fortunately, I've got two more (this time potted rather than bare root) on the way through express mail. I get a lot of wierd trees and plants that way. Ginkos, Rowans, almonds, sasafras, redwoods, quinces, bananas etc.  

[Capt. Mike]

Are you trying to create a forest?  All the luck to you.  I'm looking forward to moveing back to WNY in a few years and getting enough property to do something like that.  The city I live in requires permits for nearly everything (and that included the sugar Maple I planted in my backyard)....NE is always after a $

Mike
 

[Stormbringer]

land is cheap in Oklahoma except in the very heart of the cities. i'm making at least three forests. deciduous, conifer and cycad. With all the wierd trees and normal ones I can get my hands on.

[Stormbringer]

Some of the squash are now nearly four inches long!

[Capt. Mike]

Just a reminder to anyone who visits Storm, don't leave your car doors unlocked, or you will get the revenge of the squash grower...i.e. a back seat full of zuccinis, summer squash, and anything else prolific  

Have fun in the garden...I just take care of the wife's roses for now..but she wants me to plant some forsythia's (sp?)

Mike
 

[Stormbringer]

Unbelievable! We are at 82 degrees one day and get a frost warning the next! I just buried all my plants in mulch and covered them with pots. I get 4 inch long vegies and then a rare april frost? Aaaaargh!

[Capt. Mike]

It was 30 degrees here on Easter morning...had to warm the car before going to church...but I still grilled the ham outside    

I hope all comes out well..they still get snow where I grew up, it's only April.

Mike
 

[Stormbringer]

Got a frost warning again for the night. Again its just "frost possible" type of thing; but friday it will be 85 degrees again.  

[Capt. Mike]

hope your plants survived...the wife's roses are pretty hardy, but we are a bit farther north, and of course plant for the weather.

Mike

14 days 'til my son's home from Korea  

 

[Stormbringer]

Sorry I did not see this in a timely manner. Yeah, they all survived. The weatherman was talkin' out his ass as usual. No frost. but had to battle down aphids on the tomatoes. And today got a surprise. A hatchling box turtle in my tomato planter box. Physically impossible for hi to get in there himself. And a herd of them in the main garden, too. I got two of them in a tub now. about an inch in diameter.

[Stormbringer]

Garden Update:  Squash are harvest sized. Tomatoes are ripening. All (4) varieties of peppers are now blooming. Today I checked for blooms on my pumpkins and there are tiny pumpkins under the bloom pods. one day they are not there the next they magically appear. My eggplants are coming along but My fast ball cabages are not doing very well.

All my trees are thriving. Two grapefruit seed I planted popped up over night, it seems. Apple and Quince are in bloom. bush cherries are  almost ripe. Grape clusters are forming. I've planted three varieties of watermelon a little late but they should catch up.

* turtle hatchlings removed from garden. They seem to be happy. One likes bananas; the other does not.  

[Puddleoguts]

Good thread.....very relaxing read.

 

[Stormbringer]

A change of pace at the very least. Glad you like it.

[Stormbringer]

I found it! I thought it was gone. So BUMP!

[Stormbringer]

For the first time in twenty years I have a garden. There are plenty of squash already on my vines. I've grown roma mini tomatoes; the plants are strong. Pie pumpkins I've grown from last thanksgiving's seeds are coming up in abundance. It's a small plot but it's a great start. Life is fine.

[Stormbringer]

I went out this morning to check my plants and was surprised to see tiny squash already forming under flowers that actually have yet to open on four of my vines. I counted about 10 per plant and these are small plants yet. These plants have a 75 to 90 day maturity. The other plants have a similar maturity except the Roma tomatoes but I've got them in planter boxes. I have examined my potted trees and the one of the Paw Paw trees is showing leaves. The other is alive and has immature buds but is not doing well. The fig OTOH is leaving out already. The banana   tree is approaching fruiting age and has a three foot offspring. The oranges and grapefruit trees lost quite a few leaves going out doors but are recovering. They are a few years away from producing fruits. And I may have to build a sunroom for them when my home comes through.