Recent content by jemagsy

Even as a cat lover I am so happy for Spartacus (what a great name!) - he looks proud as punch with his new toy. I must say though that toy has some evil looking red eyes.

Sorry to hear about your illness, but thanks for the warning. I get my husband to check me for ticks whenever I work in the brush piles or helping with firewood, but I think I might start checking when I spend a lot of time in the garden now too or anytime outside period (we live in the middle...

I have found that the potatoes you buy from Sam's club work really well at sprouting. I guess their farmers don't spray them? Every bag I have ever bought and not used all the potatoes from has sprouted. We're gonna try those, but not sure how well they'll do.

I don't really have any experience with the ornamental gourds. It's my project for next year though - luffas and Lagenaria - I was really excited to find out that I can grow the luffas. As for your question I found this on an University of Illinois extension website (the link is below and is...

Could be not enough phosphorous - phosphorous aids in the development of fruits and flowers. I agree with the others you probably have plenty of nitrogen. Just to be sure take some soil samples and do a test on them or if you live in the US have your county extension do one - I think my Co...

Vfem when did you plant your cucumbers and what type are you growing?

I have noticed that the Clemson Spineless I planted this year did a lot better than last year's crop (which never did take off). I don't remember what I planted last year though and it could definitely have been gardener error at fault for production. I am quite happy w/ the Clemson btw.

I use garden swales for my rows and wells on my mounds to collect rain and help it slowly seep into the ground. One of my gardens is on a fairly steep hill so it would wash everything out if I didn't slow it down. Originally I was using them to help hold back water and a few other methods in...

I actually got a lot of my heirloom seeds from Burpees this year.

Okay they are by far the tastiest little beans my husband or I have ever had. These are definitely being planted again next year.

#1 Don't start plants in december expecting to transplant in January. You will be cursed with one of the weirdest cold/hot/cold/hot spells ever. Then it will hail.... four times. #2 Yes you really should test the soil of that new garden. No it doesn't matter that it looks like a loamy deep...

I wish my beans were growing like that. Instead I have twigs with beans hanging off of them..... I'm kind of scared to eat the beans.

Okay so I have a bit of a nutrient/acid problem in my new garden bed so we limed and fertilized today. :tools I have some of the above beans we planted about 1 month ago and that have only grown about 5 inches high, but are already bearing. It appears to be a little early for these beans...

Thanks ya'll I had no idea how to convert. :) I know - seriously if I loved blueberries as much as I did blackberries I would be all over that with a huge blueberry garden!

Thanks I've got a compost pile going right now, but it has fresh chicken litter in it and is just from since the beginning of the year (not done yet). My compost from last year I tilled into my "upper" garden where everything had issues last year. (Tomato blight, wilt, powdery mildew, pests...