Gardening

[PreacherBen]

Does anyone here have a green thumb? We are putting in a major garden this year, actually two or three of them, and I was wondering if any of you plant a veggie garden. Also, what do you know about planting strawberries, blueberry bushes, and grape vines? We also are going to put in a Spring garden with the different greens, ie, lettuce, cabbage, brussel sprouts, celery, etc. I would appreciate some tips on that as well.

We turned earth on Saturday and are going to do the final tilling in the next week or so. The frost-safe date in Middle Tennessee is April 15. However, the greens will go in immediately (so I'm told that is safe.)

Where's the farmers!

Bro. Ben

[HappyChristian]

That sounds wonderful!! So glad for you, and that fresh food will be yummy. My hubby is the one with a green thumb, but we've been unable to plant a garden for several years. I am hoping that this year we can do something, even if small, but don't know...

[lettheredeemedsayso]

my hubby does but I don't

[CJP56]

Grape vines need a support of some kind. Ours are growing on wire stretched between fence posts. Some people grow them on wooden trellises or arbors. They need a lot of sun during the day. They can get lots of diseases. Don't know a lot about strawberries but they need a lot of sun and there should be straw between the rows. There are everbearing kinds and there are June bearing kinds. They put out runners that will make new plants. Tomato plants should be put out closer to the end of April or the first of May. They need to be staked or caged to keep them from sprawling on the ground. They should be planted about 4 feet apart. Green beans need a lot of watching if there are deer in the area. Do not mess with green bean plants if the leaves are wet. Let them dry before hoeing or weeding. Hope this helps. CJP56.

[pneu-engine]

Grape vines need a support of some kind. Ours are growing on wire stretched between fence posts. Some people grow them on wooden trellises or arbors. They need a lot of sun during the day. They can get lots of diseases. Don't know a lot about strawberries but they need a lot of sun and there should be straw between the rows. There are everbearing kinds and there are June bearing kinds. They put out runners that will make new plants. Tomato plants should be put out closer to the end of April or the first of May. They need to be staked or caged to keep them from sprawling on the ground. They should be planted about 4 feet apart. Green beans need a lot of watching if there are deer in the area. Do not mess with green bean plants if the leaves are wet. Let them dry before hoeing or weeding. Hope this helps. CJP56.

I concur with all of that. :Green

Also, let me add::::::::::

Grapes::::::::

There are basically two ways to train and prune your grapes:::: Muscadine and Espalier.

The Espalier (my preference) style is done with multiple horizontal wire/cable lines running between the posts and spaced vertically each 18". I.E. The first one is ~24" off the ground and then each succeeding line is 18" above that and so on until you have lines all the way to the top of the end posts. The first year of planting is used to establish a healthy rootstock and to achieve at least one good leader to run vertically. During the early wintertime in December you will prune everything off except two vertical leaders. I say leave two even though you only need one. The second one is for insurance in case one freeze-kills. This leader will be the main trunk in the coming years. That main trunk line must be continued year after year until it is fully grown to the top of the trellis system. (Mine is 120" ,( i.e. 10') tall. ) As soon as the main vertical leader is at the 24" line then two horizontal leaders can be trained and pruned to run in opposite directions on the wire. Keep doing this year after year as long as the main vertical trunk leader is high enough. Each year you must prune off everything except two horiizontal leaders for each line and they must always run in opposite directions. Prune those horizontals back to 60" (i.e.) 5' from the main trunk. Your vine-plants should be spaced 10 feet apart, with an iron T-stake at each vine. NEVER prune grapes too late in the spring as they will bleed to death. I find the best time to prune is just after Indian summer in the late fall, or the very beginning of winter. This is done to give the winter-chill plenty of time to cauterize (freeze-burn) the tips where you made your pruning cuts.

Feeding::: I feed my vines with fresh steer manure in late winter. For your area you would have to back that up by two months to January. Heap the steer manure into a long coulumn directly under the drip line of your vines. I.e. Make a mini-mountain range directly under the wires approx. 12" wide and 6" high running the entire length of your grape arbor. Do this year after year and start right after planting, When your vines begin to bear grapes you'll realize the biggest berries, longest bunches and most delicious flavor imaginable.

Propagating::: It may be that you would want to have more vines later on. It is very easy to do. Simply take a horizontal leader that is growing close to the ground and lay it on the ground. Every 12" or so pile some good potting soil (~6" high) on top of the vine for about 12" and put peat moss on top of that. Sometime during the growing season you'll see shoots coming up thru the peat moss. Roots are growing downward as well. Allow those shoots to grow at will. Don't prune those new plants off from the parent vine until the following year. That second year you will cut the parent vine that is growing between those new plants. At that point you may plant those new vines elsewhere. This technique is called ground layering.

Disease Control::: Black rot is the most common disease, but an early application of Ferbam when the new shoots are on 3/4" long is quite effective. Also cover spray with Captan every ten days to 2 weeks during the growing season as insurance against black rot and dead-arm. Black rot turns your grape berries to "mummies" but dead arm is really nasty. This disease actually attacks the new vine shoots. You may see a black spot somewhere along the run of a perfectly healthy vine-shoot. from that spot all the way to the end of the new shoot the vine will wither and die. That is just heart-breaking. Keep a close eye out for that and if you see it quickly cut the new shoot off behind the spot and BURN IT!!!!

[aliesh]

I am busy digging the vegetable garden and starting off some seeds in the greenhouse. I am growing Broad Beans for the first time this year.

[CJP56]

A word about blueberries. We have 2 very large plants that give us lots of blueberries. They are blooming right now. We don't do anything to them except pick the blueberries when they get ripe. Pick them, gently wash them, lay them in a single layer on paper towels that are on a cloth towel. Let them air dry for a few hours and then put them in freezer containers or freezer bags and freeze. They keep for a very long time that way. CJP56.