[Atunah]

I grow my stuff in Earthboxes. My reason is because I have to grow on balconies, 2nd and 3rd floor. I don't have a garden.
http://earthbox.com/
I use the regular sized ones to grow peppers, bunch of the, I have rosemary trees in some of the others and I have a couple of smaller ones to grow salads and spinach. I can only do the salad in winter as its just too hot here in summer to do that in South Texas.

We have a huge crop every year and one year I grew squash, in previous years I grew tomatoes. I gave up the tomatoes because I am upstairs it was a bit of a mess when they fell off. . Didn't want to annoy my downstairs neighbors.

Even I ever hopefully live in a house with a garden, I will still use my earthboxes. Will be easier on the ground anyway. You only set them up at the start of the season with the soil, fertilizer strip and dolomite if needed and then all you do is put water in. That is it

I have 6 big ones and 2 smaller ones. 4 of the big ones I have had since 11 years or so. They last.
You should see my huge parsley I have in one. My salad is out of control, I can't eat that much.

I just started all my pepper seeds indoors in Jiffy peet and those go into the 3 boxes in spring. I'll have 18 different peppers going in them. We love peppers.

I dream of having a house and a garden and lining up my earthboxes in a neat row. Kind of instead of a raised bed. I would still have some of those too I am sure if I ever have a garden.

 

[Atunah]

My salad

and 2 of the currently empty larger Boxes. I haven't cleaned up yet, just pulled the dead roots out. Those are on the staircase

 

[Annalog]

Love the Earthboxes, Atunah.

The hole for the expanded greenhouse project is over 80% dug. The hole will be 12'x27'x3' for the foundation containing the underground part of the subterranean heating/cooling system. Both DH and I are getting excited about putting in the foundation and filling the hole back up.

 

[*DrDLN* (dr.s.dhillon)]

I have a question, if anyone can help with it please.  The lemon plants have black stuff on the leaves and even some of it on lemons. After for over a year, it seems to be disappearing.  First I thought it was some kind of fungus but could it be just pollution...  Fungus should continue to grow. BTW, nothing is used to treat it. All came by itself and is going by itself.  Thanks in advance...

 

[Annalog]

DrDLN, I don't have any suggestions other than to take a few of the leaves showing the changes to a local nursery that carries citrus trees.

DH discovered yesterday, while laying out the blocks for the foundation, that the hole needs to be 2 feet longer. This means that we are no longer 90% done digging but 80% done. The pile of sandy soil on the east end will need to be moved. The chickens will have sand in their pens sooner than expected. 🐓🐔🐤🐣

 

[*DrDLN* (dr.s.dhillon)]

DrDLN, I don't have any suggestions other than to take a few of the leaves showing the changes to a local nursery that carries citrus trees.

Thanks Annalog. That's a good idea. Looks like it is not common problem with citrus because we have quite a few smart people like you who know a lot about gardening....

 

[Annalog]

Thanks Annalog. That's a good idea. Looks like it is not common problem with citrus because we have quite a few smart people like you who know a lot about gardening....

I haven't ever grown citrus so I don't know if it is a common problem or not. However, I do know that local nurseries tend to have more knowledgeable people.

 

[Annalog]

Planted garlic cloves under my apple trees today. Apparently it is the best time here to plant garlic as the cool weather before winter should help more cloves develop. Also cut down the brown asparagus fronds instead of waiting for spring. Added two wheelbarrow loads of composted coop litter to the apple trees, a wheelbarrow load to each asparagus bed, and half a load to an experimental planting of oats under a cold frame. The oats were packaged for the 2002 season so it will be surprising if any grow. These are intended as a cover crop.

Saturday I noticed that the garlic leaves were about 6 inches tall and looking great. However, as of Monday, the good news is that none of my chickens are vampires! The bad news is that the garlic I planted in the Fall under the apple trees has been eaten down to the ground and partly dug up. 🌱🐔🐓 I have now covered the space around and between the two trees with lattice. I hope that the remaining bulbs resprout. 🌱🌱🌱

I have a second bed of oats that I planted just for the chickens but it isn't ready yet.

The asparagus has started sprouting so I need to start watering that and surround it with fencing until the harvest is done and it is tall enough to fend off the chickens.

Apparently my chickens prefer garlic over asparagus as the asparagus is much closer and not yet eaten.

 

[*DrDLN* (dr.s.dhillon)]

Something is destroying leaves and even flowers of my citrus plants. Anyone knows what could it be? Ants, aphids.... Will vinegar spray help. I don't want to use any chemicals. I will appreciate your help. Thanks.

 

[MamaProfCrash]

We are harvesting lettuce like mad people. The cauliflower is starting to come in. Our spring onions are great. Everything else is planted and growing nicely. I need to look for strawberries since we saw them starting to grow last weekend.

I did see a large rodent in the yard. It was not a rat and looked like a beaver but we don't have beavers in our area so we are guessing muskrat. Calling to pest control people. Something dug through the raised bed with the asparagus the past few years and killed all the asparagus so we are starting from scratch there.

 

[*DrDLN* (dr.s.dhillon)]

I did see a large rodent in the yard. It was not a rat and looked like a beaver but we don't have beavers in our area so we are guessing muskrat. Calling to pest control people. Something dug through the raised bed with the asparagus the past few years and killed all the asparagus so we are starting from scratch there.

What does the pest control people do with the rodent?? Just curious. You seem to have a great garden....

 

[MamaProfCrash]

Pest control can remove the giant rodent from our yard. Last year we had a rat that created a hole in our raised bed that killed the asparagus and rhubarb. The giant creature in the yard this year ate a bunch of the broccoli. The last thing I want is for the dogs to go after a rodent who is almost as big as our 45 pound beagle mix and for one of them to get hurt. I have no problem with catch and release when it comes to something that big. We live in suburbia, not a rural area. I am fine with removing rodents from my house and property if need be. When they start destroying stuff and might be a threat to my pets, I will try and remove them.

It seems to have gone away so we did not call any one. We don't do anything to try and deter squirrels and birds and the like from munching on things. They don't really do that much harm. But things that are harmful are fair game.