2020 Gardens

This topic has 67 replies, 8 voices, and was last updated 4 years, 1 month ago by cwcdesign.

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April 20, 2020 at 1:21 pm #23006
Mike Nolan
Keymaster
We set up two racks of plants in the guest bathroom under grow lights yesterday, lots of tomato seeds, one tray of butter crunch lettuce and some flowers, since my wife's usual source for bedding plants for the pots on the back patio, the UNL Horticulture CLub's annual spring sale, isn't happening due to the closure at UNL. She did find a few plants at Earl May over the weekend, but not some of the ones she normally puts in the pots.

There are still 2 1/2 shelves to fill up, probably with more flowers and maybe some melons.

If the colors look strange on this image, it's because the lights are red, blue and green so you get a sort of purple overall. But these lights tested out at 100% on the light meter that one of the agronomy professors at UNL tested them with. He liked them so much he put in a big order for them for his lab.

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April 23, 2020 at 5:35 am #23081
kimbob
Participant
I would love to grow tomatoes and lettuce but there are too many critters here to do so without some kind of fence. I'm content with my herbs and visit the farmers market every Saturday June through October. One year the squirrels were eating my geraniums! I have woods around me. Why can't they eat the stuff there? Lol
Have fun with your garden, Mike. It'll be great in the summer.
April 23, 2020 at 8:30 am #23089
Italiancook
Participant
kimbob, good to see you here. I wasn't part of the BC, but I read the posts near the end. I also have too many critters for a garden.
April 25, 2020 at 5:19 pm #23221
Mike Nolan
Keymaster
A number of years ago I tried to grow asparagus in an area in the back yard. It never really got established and I finally gave up and put in some elderberry there, which in turn seems to have gotten crowded out by volunteer maples. I'm going to be putting in more elderberry plants a bit further south on the east side of the house, replacing a row of dogwood that apparently got cut back too far, as most of them died.

The last several years I have noticed asparagus plants tall enough to go to seed each fall in the front yard, but come spring I couldn't find them after the dried stalks were cut down. So last fall I stuck a dowel in the ground to mark where the asparagus plants were.

Today I found 2 asparagus stalks about 6" tall. They made a nice snack. Hopefully I'll get a few more this season.
April 25, 2020 at 5:25 pm #23222
aaronatthedoublef
Participant
Be careful with the grow lights. I used to have a buddy in Seattle who monitored for increased power usage caused by grow lights. He then turned those houses over to the police... 🙂
April 25, 2020 at 5:34 pm #23225
Mike Nolan
Keymaster
The LED ones don't use a lot of power. My wife works for the Department of Agronomy and Horticulture, she's heard all the horror stories.

There was a grow house busted about two blocks from here a couple of years ago, something that surprised the neighborhood because most of the houses in this neighborhood are well above median price. The house got sold and the new owners had to pretty much strip it to bare walls and redo all the drywall because of mold and other damage from the high humidity environment.
April 25, 2020 at 6:22 pm #23226
BakerAunt
Participant
Well, it's not a garden, but on Friday, my husband and I had 600 trees, evenly divided between white oak and black oak, planted on some land we bought last fall that is adjacent to the woodlands that he has had for 35 years. A couple weeks before, he planted 100 red pine. He's also planted a few aspen sprouts that came up here and there around the house, as well as six balsam firs. He planted some Winterberry as well.

Now we need that rain that seems to be everywhere around us but here to come and water the trees.
- This reply was modified 4 years, 6 months ago by BakerAunt.
- This reply was modified 4 years, 6 months ago by BakerAunt.
April 25, 2020 at 6:25 pm #23228
Mike Nolan
Keymaster
Years ago, someone suggested that if you had an acre or two of land you should plant black walnut trees, in 50 years they'd be worth a lot. The last time I checked, ones with nice clean long trunks sell for about $10,000 each.
April 25, 2020 at 6:55 pm #23231
BakerAunt
Participant
The issue with black walnut is that it has a chemical that inhibits the growth of seedlings and even large trees of many species. My husband isn't sure how long it lasts in the soil, but he says it is pretty potent stuff. However, we do have an area where he says we can try planting a few black walnuts in the fall. There are a number of them on one of his other properties.
April 25, 2020 at 7:15 pm #23239
Italiancook
Participant
I have a black walnut tree I'd gladly sell for $10,000 just to get rid of pesky squirrels. Mike, how do I find a buyer?
April 25, 2020 at 7:16 pm #23240
Mike Nolan
Keymaster
I've been in some walnut forests, and as I recall, they won't grow much closer together than about 50 feet, and not much other than grasses and low shrubs would grow in between them, either. The chemical is juglone. Mature walnut trees also have a heavy canopy that blocks out a lot of light, so grass doesn't grow well underneath them. Pigs will eat walnuts, in fact that's part of what makes Iberian ham so expensive.

As I think back to when I heard that, I think he said you could get something like 20-30 black walnut trees per acre. He called a 10 acre plot of walnut trees a 'million dollar retirement plan'.
April 26, 2020 at 7:59 am #23249
BakerAunt
Participant
Italian Cook--few lumber places want to deal with a single tree. It also depends on the quality of the tree. When my husband had to do a lumber sale a few years go on the other property, thanks to the Emerald Ash Bore killing the ash trees, we had hoped to find a company from which we could purchase some of the wood for use in our house, but with the demand to take out dying ash trees, that wasn't possible. We were able to get ash flooring for our kitchen from a local company, but it would have been nice to have it from our own place.

About five years earlier, a guy we know was able to get lumber milled from a tree in his yard and use it in the house he was building. Different time and different situation.
April 26, 2020 at 12:21 pm #23253
Mike Nolan
Keymaster
It requires finding a sawmill that specializes in hardwoods. There aren't as many of them as there used to be. And as someone else noted, a single tree might not be worth the trip.

I'd start by looking for stores that sell walnut wood (but not chain stores) or checking woodworking sites.

Here's one site that came up when I searched for 'buying walnut trees', but they say they're specifically looking for people with acres of trees to sell:
buying walnut trees

I remember years ago when our neighbor wanted to get rid of his walnut tree he had two companies bidding for the wood.
- This reply was modified 4 years, 6 months ago by Mike Nolan.
April 27, 2020 at 8:51 am #23270
Italiancook
Participant
Thanks, BakerAunt and Mike. I checked out your link, Mike, and I don't think my tree meets the size requirements. That means the squirrels with have food again this fall to hide for the winter.
April 27, 2020 at 3:54 pm #23271
Mike Nolan
Keymaster
test post, please ignore.
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