Garden!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[pointer]

37 years ago when I first moved to this community there was an older guy who had a garden literally right outside my office window, he raised cucumbers from seed his mother brought over from Russia, and his wife made the very best pickles you have ever tasted with those cukes To bad when he pasted away they were lost forever.

 

[LBrandt]

When my parents sold the home place and moved to town moms garlic dill pickles never were quite the same. Mom blamed it on the different water. The treated water of town compared to the super hard well water on the farm.

 

[guywhofishes]

yep, the ladies in our small town often would get their water from one particular farm because it made the superior pickle.

 

[BDub]

My dad is pretty good at Making pickles. So my wife decides to follow his instructions....Except she used week old cukes and then canned them.

They would have gagged a maggot. One bite and the pickles ended in the garbage.

 

[Davey Crockett]

It's been a busy spring so I still haven't watched last weeks yet but here is tonight's agenda for those interested.

I need to do some spring pruning on some dwarf apple trees so I better get with the program. Has anyone grafted large apple cuttings or anything else worth growing to dwarf apple trees and does it work ok ? I remember seeing some slick grafting cutters and tools online that made grafting look pretty easy.


Hi Gardener,

Thanks for registering to attend the Spring Fever Garden Forums. The last forum is tonight!

Our theme is Lawns and Gardens:

6:35 to 7:10 PM Proper Mowing and Lawn Mower Maintenance
7:15 to 7:50 PM Bringing the Outdoors In: Fresh-Cut Flowers
7:55 to 8:30 PM Beyond the Honey Bee: Attracting Pollinators

Everything you need to participate is at the Spring Fever website: https://www.ag.ndsu.edu/springfever/



You can join via Blackboard Collaborate Ultra or YouTube. The links for both modes are at the top of the webpage.



Handouts are posted and available for downloading.

Recordings of previous presentations have been posted in the Archives section.

See you tonight!


-- Tom

 

[Lycanthrope]

I havent grafted to dwarf rootstock and likely wouldnt because they typically need a trellis of some sort. I was going to order some semi-dwarf rootstock this spring but suppliers were sold out by the time I started searching for it. Gonna have to be a project for next winter instead I guess.

 

[ndbwhunter]

I'm sure this has been hashed out many times, but what cukes do you like for pickling? Looking for thoughts on different varieties and why you chose them.

 

[LBrandt]

Straight 8's They are uniform in size and grow "straight" so are easy to pack in jars. Make a good crunchy dill pickle. My go to pickling cuke for the last 40 years and beyond. Was my mothers favorite too. For ref. pickles I like the burpless thin skin ones.

 

[BDub]

A variety called Homemade Pickles has been the run away favorite cucumber for pickling in the NDSU garden trials. They are smaller than Straight Eights and more disease resistant.

I suck at growing cucumbers.

 

[guywhofishes]

what's the "secret" to success growing cucumbers?

 

[LBrandt]

what's the "secret" to success growing cucumbers?

Tile spade and what ever is left when you clean fish.

 

[Lycanthrope]

Pretty much my secret to success is giving enough water. Most people dont water their gardens enough. If you wait till the plants look like the NEED water, you have already stressed them and stunted their growth. If you want big onions and carrots you pretty much dont ever want them to dry out...

 

[guywhofishes]

Yes - I have read that cuc's really thrive on regular watering - never stress them

- - - Updated - - -

(or they'll go bitter)

 

[ndbwhunter]

Lycan's comment on watering got me thinking about installing an irrigation system for my raised beds. Anyone done something like this? My water source is rougly 60ft from the beds. Thinking about trenching in some 1-2" PVC pipe from the house to the beds to run the hose underground. Would then connect the hose to a soaker system that feeds each bed. Would use a timer to control the amount of water. Seem feasible?

 

[NDbowman]

what's the "secret" to success growing cucumbers?

water and often

 

[BDub]

I seem to get downy mildew every year on the cukes. I think they need to be given lots of space and water.

 

[tikkalover]

Is it downy mildew or do you have city water and the white is from the chlorine the water? When I plant my garden, I make dikes around the plants with dirt and use the hose to fill the dikes up with water. If I use a sprinkler all the plants turn white from the shitty water Minot has.

 

[Ristorapper]

Lycan's comment on watering got me thinking about installing an irrigation system for my raised beds. Anyone done something like this? My water source is rougly 60ft from the beds. Thinking about trenching in some 1-2" PVC pipe from the house to the beds to run the hose underground. Would then connect the hose to a soaker system that feeds each bed. Would use a timer to control the amount of water. Seem feasible?

I like the idea. I run soaker hose to all my cukes to keep the disease/chlorine from showing its face.

Anyone else want to get to tilling. I've got a south exposure right out my basement living room. She's gonna get tilled and planted tomorrow I think. When the wife said to hell with the roses out there we put her to cukes or carrots. This year its cukes turn. Should put a temp gauge in the ground before I get too anxious I guess.

 

[Auggie]

Risto, here's the soil temps according to NDAWM:

 

[Lycanthrope]

Im a big fan of drip irrigation. If you dont want to put in a zone on your existing underground sprinkler system, like I did, you can just get a timer/valve that attaches to your hose or faucet. Something like this would work well...
https://www.sprinklerwarehouse.com/products/hose-end-sprinklers/hose-timers/dig-b09d-3-4-in-hose-end-timer-w-lcd-display

I wouldnt suggest trying to remember to water your garden, get a timer!

Get an adapter to go from hose connection to 1/2 plastic irrigation pipe like this

https://www.sprinklerwarehouse.com/dig-sw9000-3-4-fht-hose-bib-drip-connection-kit-700-od

Get some drip line and other accessories, I really like the 1/4 inch line with 6 inch emitter spacing for row crops, works fine for other plants also...

https://www.sprinklerwarehouse.com/dig-1-4-6-emitter-spacing-drip-line

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I seem to get downy mildew every year on the cukes. I think they need to be given lots of space and water.

More likely it is powdery mildew, I get the same on my cucs and zuchinni... If you remove the affected leaves it will help your plant keep producing longer, the sooner you do it, the better. You can also treat with fungicides if you dont mind chemicals on your food.

- - - Updated - - -

Here is a diagram I drew to assist. also here are some accessories that will be helpful if you do something like this...


https://www.sprinklerwarehouse.com/.../hose-end-goof-plugs/hose-end-1-2-h050end-5pk

To end the 1/2inch hose, you can also fold it over and zip tie it, but if the tie comes off or breaks and you dont notice, youll end up with a bit of a mess...

https://www.sprinklerwarehouse.com/...s/hose-end-goof-plugs/goof-plug-1-4-gp210-5pk

To plug the end of 1/4 lines and also repair 1/2 tubing if you need to move or remove a line...

https://www.sprinklerwarehouse.com/rain-bird-xbf-1-4-barb#893=5920

To attach 1/4 line to 1/2 mainline

1/4 inch lines should be good up to about 30 feet with 6" emitters, 12" emitters would double your effective length. If you go much longer you could loose pressure towards the end, only so much water can run through a line.

https://www.sprinklerwarehouse.com/...pply-tubing/dig-1-2-brown-polyethylene-tubing

1/2 tubing, can be purchased in either brown or black...