23,821 Garden Web Discussions | Vegetable Gardening

You may have to adjust your demands somewhat, make them a bit more realistic.
You want only a local source, already pre-tested by someone who has used it, only a small amount, really good stuff, AND delivered? All that wouldn't be possible in many parts of the country. Is cost a consideration too because all that is going to cost you.
Bagged compost from one of the big box stores may be your best bet for many reasons.
Dave

I left a couple of my leeks from year before last in the ground just to see the seed stalks--and were they impressive! I saved the seed and those now-4"-high babies will go into the garden this year!
Last season's leeks (I left 2 again) do not seem to have survived the winter--though I have not checked for a couple of weeks.

@florauk: In my experience, they vary from plant to plant. I think some get tougher, younger, and some stay cookable.
Y'all know what's really funny? If you forget about a few leeks and don't pull them even AFTER they drop their seeds, they resprout from the base. In clumps. I should take a pic and post it. I am leaving those to see what they do next :).
Also, for me, leeks reseed themselves. So far I have not needed my backup tray of starts.

I would want to know more about the topsoil and more about the compost. Topsoil is very generic. Some venders sell good topsoil and others sell a mixture of sand and composted horse manure and call it topsoil.
Compost is also very generic. Composted sewerage sludge is commonly sold as compost and you probably shouldn't be using that in a vegetable garden. Or it might be green waste which can also be suspect.
Ask the sand silt clay and organic content of the topsoil. Ask about the ingredients in the compost.
Zeuspaul


These pics are really old, but you can see the structure. I liked the blocks because I was able to install them myself without many tools.
Here is a link that might be useful: My garden in year two.

Don't know that I have ever seen or heard of short-day varieties in sets? 99% of the ones sold are long-day varieties. Do you recall the names of any of these varieties off hand?
I would have laid it off on Home Depot buying in bulk and shipping them all over the country but the ones sold in our HD here are all long day varieties so it sounds like the HD there must have made some weird, off-the-books purchase.
But I'm not surprised they don't understand the difference between the types. Most gardener's don't either. Or even understand the difference between sets and plants.
But as for one list that covers them all, not that I know of. You can put together a pretty comprehensive list by browsing the varieties offered by the big name US plant suppliers: Dixondale Farms, Browns of Omaha, Piedmont, Territorial, etc. but that doesn't even begin to include all the seed varieties or the set varieties.
Dixondale Farms has some great info and how-to publications you can print out and take to the HD manager if you think it will help. :)
Dave

I can put down cardboard or newspaper and layer it over the existing weeds, and then cover that with aged compost etc."
That's exactly what I would do. You are right on my friend. Mow the weeds short, layer newspapers/cardboard, pile with compost, mulch, and plant..
You can plant in that right away, no time to wait.
Joe


I'm sure they would be and there are many of them on all the various Exchanges forum here as well as on the Round Robin forum that run every year at seed trading time.
The tomato forum even has its own trading/exchange forum which is very active at trading time.
Dave

Can you compare the ingredients of the two types? See what is different between them and what explains the price differences?
And if you can tell us the actual manufacturers brand name too it would help. It should be on the bag.
I can pull up all kinds of "soil mixes sold in Germany" and "German brand potting mixes/soils" but none of them are named Blumen.
Dave

DD - Blumen just means 'flowers' - it's not a brand name. I had a little Google and plenty came up under Gemueseerde. (Sorry - I can't do the Umlaut but if you have a German keyboard you can.) This is the first that came up - 9,90 for 40 litres. And it's organic.
Here is a link that might be useful: Gemueseerde.

From my experience there is nothing fights squirrels. They are sneaky creatures. I guard them during the day but they come while I am sleeping. I used pp gun it did not work. I used cages and caught many of them and drove them 60 miles away but there are so many of them who keep coming back. I wish every one just eats one fruit but no they take a bite from each one and once the fruit is injured they fall. I set under my trees with the gun they jump on the neighbor shade trees and make noise like they are laughing at me I gave up

Good luck with the forks. They have an artistic look. They may not slow down your "tree rat" though. I only do some outside container gardening and the squirrels don't seem to bother those containers. Plenty of squirrels here though that love to dig through freshly dug beds. Mostly I used rolled fencing over the new beds even then they attempt to dig. It is fairly effective at keeping damage to a minimum. It seems once plants get established they don't mess with those areas too much.


I suspect adding earthworms is a losing proposition. They breed fast if the conditions and organic materials are there. Adding them if the conditions are not will lead to lower survival and breeding. The end result will be exactly the same.
The way to get more worms is to add more organic material. Ten per shovel sounds fine.



Thanks, nc-crn - will follow your advice. I think they are likely saveable.
Something I have used for years and it really works. If you take a plastic laundry basket and invert it over a flat of plants you are trying to harden off, it gives them just the right amount of sun and wind exposure. After a week or so, if it's not too windy, I am able to remove the basket. I usually put the flat and basket on my east facing front porch.
Steve