Recent content by HLAC

Hi everyone, I have always used commercial seed starting mixes in the past but I'm wondering, can I just use the dirt from my garden to start seeds? Do I have to sterilize it? Add stuff to it? It's good black dirt. Not much clay or sand. Most of the plants I grow, I plant directly in the...

I had a sweet potato I bought at walmart sprout on me so i saved it for planting... but I forgot about it until July. I planted about 6 slips from it and got 5 grocery bags full of sweet potatoes from them. (dug it up in November) I was really surprised. It was the first time I'd tried to...

The furnace is struggling to keep the inside of house 63 degrees. The wind is rough on this old farmhouse. Makes seed starting a bit of a challenge for those plants needing warm temps.

Sounds good! I'll have to try that. I have one of those Japanese fish grills. Never thought of using them for peppers. I have some poblano peppers and jalapenos I have to do something with. Thanks for posting the recipe.

If it's an isolated frost, I'd move it indoors and then put it back out or at least cover it. The bushier the plant, the more heat it will hold in. I've heard you can put a gallon jug of hot water under the cover to help fend off the frost but I've never tried that. I would also cover it...

All the squash = maybe 30,000 sq feet. The green kabocha are space hogs. So were the argonauts. The orange kabocha weren't too bad and the acorns and butternut didn't (comparatively) take up much space. The pie pumpkins, neck pumpkins, and a few novelty varieties were planted here and...

Cantaloupe. Last year I only got one fruit, and about the time it started looking ripe...... My dog ate it. This year I got several smallish fruits and they ripened and slipped and they smelled wonderful. They weren't the least bit sweet tho'. :( Most anything else that I have...

I grew oodles of squash this year but just a handful of what most people consider pumpkins. (The orange things) :) I am blessed with lots of bees and not so blessed with massive quantities of corn root worm beetles. The only good thing about the root worm beetles is that if a bee should miss...

Common bindweed (field bindweed) is not a nightshade.

I just went out in to my unweeded parts of the garden (which is most of the garden now ;) ) and took these pics of the bindweed that's still green. It's no longer flowering but I'm quite sure it's field bindweed. (we also have ivy leaf morning glory for weeds and another type of bindweed that...