Gardening

[CSwriter1]

Is anyone gardening this year?

This is my first year in a community garden plot and boy, do I feel challenged.
We have clay soil that seriously needs sand. I bought a small truck load of gardening soil but that doesn't go far. There are mountains of decaying leaves to use and I don't know how thick of a layer of them I should use.

I heard charcoal is good for gardening, but then read the brickets available to us have a binder that is poisonous to plants, so I probably don't want eat what is in them either. Before reading of the problem, I did add some smashed brickets to a small area of soil. Any thoughts on adding charcoal to soil?

The plants I have transfered may not survive. I will really be disappointed if I loose them. Our weather has been extremely cold and tomorrow will be extremely hot. I mean extremely hot for May, over 90 degrees, and there is no being sure it won't snow or hail the next week. That is how extreme our weather has been. There will be a poor peach crop this year, because it was too cold for bees to leave their hives.

All in all, I love the challenge of gardening because it is causing me to care about the weather and nature, and I have so much to learn.

[sonrisa]

Hi CS! how ya been? where ya been? :)

I grow some tomatoes & banana peppers in the side yard every year. My Dad grew them from scratch & when he was alive I did too since he would give me some trays to plant in my yard. But now I go to the Market & get a few trays. I don't use charcoal, but I do use compost (ie the dead leaves) After digging up the ground where I'm gonna plant I spread a couple inches of compost over the dug up area & the mix it in with the soil. Then I plant the plants. It works pretty good each year.

another thing I learned from my Dad- use rinse water from the wash to water your plants. Collect it in big 5-6 gallon buckets. It contains nitrogen (ie plant food) from the laundry soap, & if there's a water shortage you have water for the plants. :)

[CSwriter1]

Okay, good, I have plenty of decaying leaves to add to the soil. My son will help turn over the soil this Sunday, and while he does that I haul in the decaying leaves.

The first year in these community garden plots are the worst, as they are usually the ones that have not been well cared for in the past. All around me are beautiful plots full of raised beds with well compost soil. I am very thankful I began work on my polt as soon as possible and it isn't as bad as some near mine. These are lower plots where all the water run off carries grass seed. I am in the process of building a wall around my plot to hold out the invested water off, and build up composted soil. I am spending so much this year, the separated raised beds will have to wait.

Surely I am buying starter plants, as I have lost so much time just trying to get the soil ready. At the end of the growing season, I will mulch my plot really well. Do you know if a person can mulch too much?

My Dad told me about using banana peels for potassium. I love saving all the food waste for composting, with anticipation of the making my soil and plants healthy. Smile- having a good garden is a wonderful substitute to raising children. Even better in some ways, because I can do it pretty on my time, and quite when I want. However, when I was young and had children and a garden, I learned I really must submit to Mother Nature's time. If things aren't done by her time schedule the results are not so good.

But this year, Mother Nature is having a hard time. We are all bracing for 90 degrees or more. I have shaded my planted lettuce seeds with a board and watered everything. I hope I have the energy to return this evening and see if I need to water again. Can we water our gardens too much?

[Thomas Knierim]

My gardening activities are currently limited to cutting stuff down , because everything grows exuberantly in this climate, especially after the monsoon rains have set in early this year. Last month I chopped down the Ginger plants (Zingiberaceae), because they were invading the carport and now they're back laughing at me. In the tropics one becomes a ruthless gardener.

(...sharpening the machete...)

Cheers, Thomas

[CSwriter1]

I was visiting with a woman from the Philopines and she talked of how food grew naturally, especially banana's. So when we speak of the people to Burma's independence and lack of government responsibility for the people, I am thinking their food supply normally makes this possible.

Secondly, I am shaking my head as our media appears to be shaming Burma for not having that takes care of everyone, when we call such governments that take care of people as communitiest and spoke of communism like the worst evil in the world.

I think interest in gardening this year has increased due to increased food prices. Using farm land for biofuels is rapidly becoming a hated idea, because of the raising cost that leading to starvation in many countries. I am looking forward to a major conscousness shift.

[schrodinger]

I was visiting with a woman from the Philopines and she talked of how food grew naturally, especially banana's. So when we speak of the people to Burma's independence and lack of government responsibility for the people, I am thinking their food supply normally makes this possible.

Secondly, I am shaking my head as our media appears to be shaming Burma for not having that takes care of everyone, when we call such governments that take care of people as communitiest and spoke of communism like the worst evil in the world.


Wow, that is quite a switch of topics. Do you know anything about the military rulers of Burma? They are not communists but a bunch of thugs who could not care less about the welfare of the Burmese people. They have been confiscating the relief supplies that they have let in and stockpiling it for the use of their military while the cyclone victims are dropping like flies. Instead of supplying aid, the regime has been conducting an election farce to ensure their rule will never be interrupted by such a terrible thing as democracy. The total dead will probably exceed 200,000! Most of those deaths could have been avoided if the khaki-clad fascists would let in the aid that has been mobilized. And the USA is of course there with the most aid, as usual. While criticism of the USA is common on this forum, I cannot see any justification for using the disaster in Burma as an excuse to take a cheap shot at the USA and defend ruthless thugs in Burma. It is out of place!

[sonrisa]

Okay, good, I have plenty of decaying leaves to add to the soil. My son will help turn over the soil this Sunday, and while he does that I haul in the decaying leaves....yada....yada .... Surely I am buying starter plants, as I have lost so much time just trying to get the soil ready. At the end of the growing season, I will mulch my plot really well. Do you know if a person can mulch too much?

-- not to the best of my knowledge

CS--My Dad told me about using banana peels for potassium.

-- there's plenty of potassium in my compost then

But this year, Mother Nature is having a hard time. We are all bracing for 90 degrees or more. I have shaded my planted lettuce seeds with a board and watered everything. I hope I have the energy to return this evening and see if I need to water again. Can we water our gardens too much?

-- not when it's 90* out! you should water it at least 2x/day. It would appear that we have swapped weather. Here in Cincy we have been getting your chilly damp rainy weather. I can understand the need for rain from time to time, but I don't know how y'all put up with this monsoon stuff day in & day out. Ya gotta have some sun

[Thomas Knierim]

Regarding "gardening in Burma"... we have a couple of banana trees in the garden, the mandatory mango tree (almost every house has one) and a jackfruit tree. I sure hope that we will never have to rely on these trees for our food supply, since it's just not enough. Besides, I am vegetarian, not fruitarian. :lol: I have a friend who owns a farm with a rice field, though. Since he is a generous chap, he would probably sell us some rice cheaply in times of crisis. :unsure: Actually, he just gave away a sack for free when we visited last time. Okay, I am digressing. Certainly the people in Burma need more than bananas now. Medical supplies, for example. I think Schrodinger is right to criticise the extremely callous treatment of the Burmese people by the junta . Okay, back to Petunias and Tulips now. :p

Cheers, Thomas

[schrodinger]

Okay, I am digressing. Certainly the people in Burma need more than bananas now. Medical supplies, for example. I think Schrodinger is right to criticise the extremely callous treatment of the Burmese people by the junta . Okay, back to Petunias and Tulips now. :p

Cheers, Thomas

Being located in Thailand, I also grow a nice selection of fruit in my yard. I don’t call it a garden, since the biggest “crop” is just green grass. But we have three mango trees, maybe a dozen banana trees and many papaya “trees” which are really ferns. Add to that one avocado tree, two durian trees and uncountable chili pepper bushes and you begin to get the picture. But, even with all that we are no way near self sufficient. The trees either bear too much fruit so we give most of it away, or none and we still end up buying our bananas and papayas at the market. And I am also digressing. From what I have seen and heard, the cyclone in Burma did not leave much of anything left standing, including trees. The people in the Irrawaddy delta are in a desperate struggle for survival. I do not wish to politicize this tragic event, but the USA, as usual was one of the first nations to respond with aid, and lots of it. There were 4 ships here in Thailand when the disaster happened, as they were a part of the annual joint military exercise with Thailand called “cobra gold”. They are always loaded with many of tons of disaster relief supplies, as part of US government policy, so they were almost immediately sent to the Andaman Sea to lend assistance. Also, with the cooperation of the Thai government, the Utapao airfield in Eastern Thailand, which was built by American forces during the Vietnam era, was used to fly in USAF C130 cargo planes full of tons of emergency supplies. As per US government policy ever since the Berlin airlift, all of these supplies bear labeling that they are “provided by the government of the United States of America” in red, white and blue. This is done in part to prevent aid supplies from being resold on the black market, or otherwise redistributed. In any case, the Burmese military government refused all offers of such aid even though the Burmese people were and are, in desperate need. With US backing, the Thai prime minister went to Burma to urge his counterparts there to accept the aid. Finally, the Burmese did agree to accept aid from Thailand only. So, at Utapao, the US aid supplies were offloaded, the boxes bearing the “offensive” labeling were repackaged in sacks containing the royal Thai emblem and the words “Aid from the Kingdom of Thailand” and reloaded on to Thai C130 aircraft and sent to Rangoon. Upon arrival in Rangoon, rather than immediately shipping the aid to where it was most needed, the precious cargo was sent to warehouses where it was “inspected”. After taking what they wanted for their own use, the remainder of the aid was relabeled with stickers saying “A gift from the Burmese government” and various Burmese generals’ names were on the labels. Finally, after days of wasting precious time while people were and still are dying, some of the aid was delivered, but not without propaganda photos being taken! During all this time, many lives were lost and are still being lost, as the ships in the Andaman Sea still have not been allowed to deliver any assistance. Maybe this will help everyone to understand the nature of the military leaders in Burma?

[CSwriter1]

Being located in Thailand, I also grow a nice selection of fruit in my yard. I don’t call it a garden, since the biggest “crop” is just green grass. But we have three mango trees, maybe a dozen banana trees and many papaya “trees” which are really ferns. Add to that one avocado tree, two durian trees and uncountable chili pepper bushes and you begin to get the picture. But, even with all that we are no way near self sufficient. The trees either bear too much fruit so we give most of it away, or none and we still end up buying our bananas and papayas at the market. And I am also digressing. From what I have seen and heard, the cyclone in Burma did not leave much of anything left standing, including trees. The people in the Irrawaddy delta are in a desperate struggle for survival. I do not wish to politicize this tragic event, but the USA, as usual was one of the first nations to respond with aid, and lots of it. There were 4 ships here in Thailand when the disaster happened, as they were a part of the annual joint military exercise with Thailand called “cobra gold”. They are always loaded with many of tons of disaster relief supplies, as part of US government policy, so they were almost immediately sent to the Andaman Sea to lend assistance. Also, with the cooperation of the Thai government, the Utapao airfield in Eastern Thailand, which was built by American forces during the Vietnam era, was used to fly in USAF C130 cargo planes full of tons of emergency supplies. As per US government policy ever since the Berlin airlift, all of these supplies bear labeling that they are “provided by the government of the United States of America” in red, white and blue. This is done in part to prevent aid supplies from being resold on the black market, or otherwise redistributed. In any case, the Burmese military government refused all offers of such aid even though the Burmese people were and are, in desperate need. With US backing, the Thai prime minister went to Burma to urge his counterparts there to accept the aid. Finally, the Burmese did agree to accept aid from Thailand only. So, at Utapao, the US aid supplies were offloaded, the boxes bearing the “offensive” labeling were repackaged in sacks containing the royal Thai emblem and the words “Aid from the Kingdom of Thailand” and reloaded on to Thai C130 aircraft and sent to Rangoon. Upon arrival in Rangoon, rather than immediately shipping the aid to where it was most needed, the precious cargo was sent to warehouses where it was “inspected”. After taking what they wanted for their own use, the remainder of the aid was relabeled with stickers saying “A gift from the Burmese government” and various Burmese generals’ names were on the labels. Finally, after days of wasting precious time while people were and still are dying, some of the aid was delivered, but not without propaganda photos being taken! During all this time, many lives were lost and are still being lost, as the ships in the Andaman Sea still have not been allowed to deliver any assistance. Maybe this will help everyone to understand the nature of the military leaders in Burma?


I am overwhelmed by your explanation and so hurt. May be we should have accepted things as they are and sent the aid to countries that want it and would get it to the starving people without the waste of time, and money for relabeling food? I forget the name of the country, but there are mothers feeding their children mud pies with no nutrition in them, just to stop the feeling of hunger. There are people desparate because of the price of rice has doubled. Right now the need is great and since there isn't enough for everyone, why force it on a country and allow it to be used to lied to the people and extend the time of having bad government over them?

I wish the US would realize they must reduce their use of gasoline and use farm land for food, not fuel. This is getting away from the subject gardening, but the world situation does increase my motivation to grow as much food as I can, and leave in the market place as much food as I can for the needy people around the world.

I have turned up more soil and covered it ith mulch, and will put planting soil on top of that, and then will add chili pepper and two different kinds of tomatos to what I have growing now. I am trying to get plants that will ripen at different times, so everything isn't ripe all at once. I am really looking forward to next year, when I won't have to spend so much time preparing my soil. My neighbor gardeners have their plots full of growing plants. I am so jealous.