New Garden, Need Help

[Shazam]

Originally Posted by Jedi Ninja

FROST WARNING.

It may dip below zero tonight, so cover those babies up!

Eh? Just looked at Weather Network's forecast; only going down to 4 tonight.

[redforever]

I didn't really want to start a new thread so bumped this one about gardening.

To all the gardeners out there, I am going to recommend a green bean variety that I grew this year. This is the best variety I have ever grown and I suspect I have been gardening as long as some of you have been living.



The name of this variety of green bean is Pickin n Grinnin...I know, weird, but that is what it is called.

http://www.henryfields.ca/product/Pi...Bean/Bean_Seed

I ordered the seed from Henry Fields. I have never ordered from them before, although they have sent me their catalogues. Anyhow, the description of the bean just seemed such that I should try it and I am very glad that I did. Beans are 8 to 10 inches long, straight, tender and tasty and not stringy. The beans hang above the ground so there is not the problem of rust like with some other varieties. The beans themselves are easier to pick as well. Beans have a shallow root and some varieties tend to rip out easily unless you really support the plant when picking, not the case with this variety. The plant itself is about 12 to 18 inches tall and wide.

http://www.henryfields.ca/

On a second note, for those who grow tomatoes, how did yours do this year? I am pleasantly surprised. I thought with our cold wet spring that tomatoes might be a write off, but I have quite a bit of fruit. I even grew two heritage varieties this year, and although they don't have as much fruit as my other varieties, I will have quite a bit for a sample. I grew Cherokee Purple and Brandywine Red.

As I have quite often mentioned, Champion is one of my favorite varieties and they again are the best for me this year.





They are just starting to ripen, starting to show some yellow and orange in areas. I have been eating my Celebrity as well as all of my cherry tomatoes.

[MrMastodonFarm]

Originally Posted by Puxlut

I'm not a good gardener (this will be my 4th year attempting at growning stuff)I tried tomatoes last year and got nothing... plus the plants smell like cat pee.

Are you sure a can't isn't peeing on your plant?

I've found that a tomato plant is one of the "freshest" smells ever. Well, maybe one that has ripe tomatoes on it.

[Ashartus]

Originally Posted by redforever

I didn't really want to start a new thread so bumped this one about gardening.

...

On a second note, for those who grow tomatoes, how did yours do this year? I am pleasantly surprised. I thought with our cold wet spring that tomatoes might be a write off, but I have quite a bit of fruit. I even grew two heritage varieties this year, and although they don't have as much fruit as my other varieties, I will have quite a bit for a sample. I grew Cherokee Purple and Brandywine Red.

As I have quite often mentioned, Champion is one of my favorite varieties and they again are the best for me this year.

They are just starting to ripen, starting to show some yellow and orange in areas. I have been eating my Celebrity as well as all of my cherry tomatoes.

We grew cherry tomatoes this year - they did fairly well. Our beans haven't come out yet - maybe next year I'll try the variety you grew. It's been a funny year for the garden, vegetable and flower, perhaps because of the spring. Some plants have done way better than ever before, while others that are usually reliable had relatively poor years.

[Ducay]

Ditto on the beans; we grew traditional green beans (exact variety escapes me), and they've been growing like crazy all summer without flower. Finally a week and a half ago they decided its bean time and are spitting out beans like no tomorrow.

My Zucchini and beets had pretty horrid years for production as well thus far. Snow pea crop was decent, as was carrots.

Pretty much everything was late to bloom in terms of annuals as well.

[redforever]

Originally Posted by Ducay

Ditto on the beans; we grew traditional green beans (exact variety escapes me), and they've been growing like crazy all summer without flower. Finally a week and a half ago they decided its bean time and are spitting out beans like no tomorrow.

My Zucchini and beets had pretty horrid years for production as well thus far. Snow pea crop was decent, as was carrots.

Pretty much everything was late to bloom in terms of annuals as well.

Try growing these varieties of beets. They are available in pretty well any seed catalogue. They also have a short growing season. I have been using mine for almost a month.

Cylindra, they grow long like carrots...fatter of course, but not round. Start using them when twice the diameter of your third finger and a bit longer. Very sweet, always tender and never woody, very dark inside color when cooked. Also great for pickling.





Golden beets are nice too. Harvest them when about the size of a Christmas orange. They are also very nice for adding to salads as they don't bleed like a purple or red beet does.



Also, I highly recommend you buy your seeds from seed catalogue companies and here is why. They usually give the number of days for that plant's growing season. Aim for no more than 65 days in Calgary, except for maybe carrots which can withstand some frost since they are a root crop.

Even when it says 65 days, you can add on 10 to 15 days for Calgary's growing season. We are so close to the mountains so our nights cool down a lot. Then the next day it takes awhile to regain that lost heat. Then, we just don't get the heat that other parts of Canada does.

Note: In the city, and in a sheltered yard, you can probably try varieties that have a growing season of 70 to 75 days.

[tete]

We planted over two weeks late this year and coupled with not a heck of a lot of rain this summer and some neglectful gardening (we have a community garden plot that we only got to once a week often), the garden is lackluster this year. Last year was bumper crops of virtually everything. This is our third year in the community garden and we're basically learning something new every year. I grew up on a farm and helped garden every year with my mom, but it's different when you're doing it on your own!

Beans, while late, did turn out well (just yellow wax beans, not sure of the breed, got them from my mom a few years ago), kale is more than prolific, potatoes are doing well and we have a TON of green, slowly ripening tomatoes on our plants, which I think is a miracle considering our neglect and Calgary's cool summers. Beets have been okay, our garlic did not make it at all, carrots are only now getting to be an edible size and the zucchini has been quite poor, growing really oddly (curled up, bulbous instead of even, etc).

Fingers crossed the weather stays nice throughout September!

[redforever]

Originally Posted by tete

Beans, while late, did turn out well (just yellow wax beans, not sure of the breed, got them from my mom a few years ago), kale is more than prolific, potatoes are doing well and we have a TON of green, slowly ripening tomatoes on our plants, which I think is a miracle considering our neglect and Calgary's cool summers. Beets have been okay, our garlic did not make it at all, carrots are only now getting to be an edible size and the zucchini has been quite poor, growing really oddly (curled up, bulbous instead of even, etc).

Fingers crossed the weather stays nice throughout September!

Because of our short growing season and lack of heat, garlic has to be planted in the fall in Calgary. Plant the same way as you do in spring. Separate the head into cloves, stick cloves in the ground, remember where you planted them so you don't dig them up in spring))))

[Ashartus]

Originally Posted by redforever

Because of our short growing season and lack of heat, garlic has to be planted in the fall in Calgary. Plant the same way as you do in spring. Separate the head into cloves, stick cloves in the ground, remember where you planted them so you don't dig them up in spring))))

I tried that last fall - they sent up shoots before winter hit then never came back in the spring. Maybe I need to plant them later in the fall (I think I put them in during late September).

[tete]

Thanks redforever - I think last year when we planted in the spring we just got lucky (got small bulbs out of it). We left some in the garden over the winter, transplanted some of it (likely a bad mistake) in the spring but even the stuff that stayed in the same place from fall isn't looking good.

We hope to plant some fresh garlic this fall and hope that it goes better next year.

[redforever]

Originally Posted by Ashartus

I tried that last fall - they sent up shoots before winter hit then never came back in the spring. Maybe I need to plant them later in the fall (I think I put them in during late September).

That should have been ok. However, last fall was very warm, no killing frost until about Oct 6, so I think that might have been the problem. They should not sprout before frost and snow. They should grow the same as tulips, put bulb in ground in fall, it does not sprout and grow until spring.

[Madman]

I gambled and planted the seeds in our garden before May long this year and as a result we have been enjoying peas, beets, green onions and carrots for over a month now. (carrots not as long, but still earlier than most years)

Our tomatoes were slow to start off this year and really didn't like the transition from cushy garden centre to full blast SW sun all day, but they finally turned a corner and exploded to what will hopefully be a good crop this year.