Welcome to General Chat - GAW Community Area
This General Chat area started off as a place for people to talk about things that are off topic, however it has quickly evolved into a community and has become an integral part of the GAW experience for many of us.
Based on its evolving needs and plenty of user feedback, we are trying to bring some order and institute some rules. Please make sure you read these rules and participate in the spirit of this community.
Rules for General Chat
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Be respectful to each other. This is of utmost importance, and comments may be removed if deemed not respectful.
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Avoid long drawn out arguments. This should be a place to relax, not to waste your time needlessly.
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Personal anecdotes, puzzles, cute pics/clips - everything welcome
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Please do not spam at the top level. If you have a lot to post each day, try and post them all together in one top level comment
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Try keep things light. If you are bringing in deep stuff, try not to go overboard.
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Things that are clearly on-topic for this board should be posted as a separate post and not here (except if you are new and still getting the feel of this place)
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If you find people violating these rules, deport them rather than start a argument here.
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Feel free to give feedback as these rules are expected to keep evoloving
In short, imagine this thread to be a local community hall where we all gather and chat daily. Please be respectful to others in the same way
Daughter-in-law wants a much larger garden this year so my son is putting her in a couple of raised beds and I went yesterday and bought some huge planter pots for certain veggies she wanted to pot. Going to mix my own potting mix for those pots and a raised bed for my house. Buying some bags of a lesser grade mix of potting soil, going to Mr. Mulch for some mulch and will be mixing in a bit of compost. Should make a great bed for some much needed veggies.
Daughter-in-law has kick started a lot of veggies with a 'grow lamp' and 3 grow trays. Everything is and has shot up like I've never seen before. She really has a knack for this sort of thing. Going to plant potatoes as soon as my garden area dries up a bit for tilling. Already have a nice batch of seeded potatoes from last year that my daughter-in-law forgot about and the sprouted under her cabinet. She was going to throw them out and I stopped her. No way was I letting her throw out the seed potatoes for this years garden. Hopefully will have them in the ground this coming week.
I changed to the raised bed system and never looked back. Its brilliant. Make my own compost from garden waste and kitchen scraps. Volcanic rock ash, blood bone and fish meal, dried seaweed and well rotted farm manure are good additives.
Growing potatoes in bags this year as I don't need many for myself and digging them out is such a chore - there are always a few that get left behind and re-sprout. Interesting experiment. Hope we get good weather.
BE CAREFUL with horseradish - very invasive. Took me hours to dig out all the roots recently, its now confined to a big pot.
you may have thought you got it all up! Don't be surprised if you see some coming up later this season, those Horseradish roots go all the way to the core of the earth as far as I know. I ended up just letting them take over the small bed.
I am prepared for a re-appearance. Will spray with white vinegar and Epsom Salts at the first sign, that should take care of it.
Thanks for telling me about the horseradish. You know, I may do a couple of bags of potatoes just to see how they turn out. I hear you can also do them with a large cardboard box too.
I splashed out on proper breathable bags, they even have a flap so you can check progress. :) A cardbopard box may not last long after watering...
Glad I saw your horseradish post! Wish someone had warned me.
I'm glad you did too. I saw a video online about a man who planted his potatoes in cardboard boxes. Maybe you can find it and judge for yourself. Okay, gotta go wake up the grandkids behind me so they can eat breakfast and go to church with me and Pappy. Have a blessed day.
Mary...I gardened for years and I used mulch hay to cover the garden very successfully...it was the Ruth Stout method and it really cuts down on weeding...
https://youtu.be/bfi-n0Oq38E
I also companion gardened...for example if you plant horseradish at the 4 corners of your potato patch it will protect the potatoes from harmful bugs. I surround the garden with marigolds to protect. Also a few petunias can be planted in a row of green beans to protect. It really is a wonderful way to garden. Well worth it to utilize these advantages...I had books but I am sure all you need to know is online...
Thank you so much. I always have a problem with grub worms in my potatoes and I asked a friend on Gab who is an Off Grid person and she said she always kept her chickens where they would eat them. Well, I have no chickens so I suppose I will be planting horseradish this year. My husband loves horseradish so it won't go to waste. Thanks for the tips I will be more than happy to use them. Also told my daughter that we would be using hay or straw as a covering to keep me from hoeing the garden out so much this year. So I'm glad you wrote that to confirm what I was thinking. God bless and Happy Sunday.