Besides Raven, anyone else ??

Raven... Thanks for posting the fishing calendar. In the thread you mention those are the same dates are suggested for planting. I've seen your garden, very impressive. My questions are, when do you plant your sweet peas? When you plant them, do you just drop the seeds in the garden at the dates mentioned or do you start them inside then put them in on the dates? When it comes to peas vs other veggies like watermelon....how do you decide the order in which they are planted?

I've never gone by moon to plant. I do know gardeners who don't always get a harvest from certain veggie plants. The plants themselves look great they just don't produce. Are there years that you are dumb founded as to why? Or do you think those gardeners aren't in tune to the moon?

I prefer to start most of my veggies and such inside. I shoot for memorial day for the main planting. I start some tomatoes a cages a little sooner wrapped in plastic. Soil temp has a lot to do with how they grow with the warm weather crops like tomatoes, peppers, muskmelons, basil, cukes, and such. I find if you put them in too early they just sit there and sometimes rot. Some of those don't like to be transplanted either so you have to be very careful. That is why I always have way too many and give lots of seedlings away. Half the fun is trying to push the limit on what you can grow and some years you have some sort of problems, too hot , too cold, too much rain. I like the challenge though. Peas can be started indoors too and planted in middle of April according to Bob Thompson's book The New Victory Garden. I use this book for just about everything in the Veggie department. Great help. As far as moon fazes and such I don't plant according to the moon. Rav is more cerebral that I. I have to do it when I get the time. Don't forget to get out there and prune your fruits and berries now. It's time. Before you know it asparagus will be busting the soil. :kewl:

Professor,

I have some berry trees purchased last season. They did produce some berrys. What is the proper method for pruning these small trees ?

Snip the ends of the branches? Snip off old leave endings?? Extremely GREEN to all this gardening stuff -

Thanks

big question Goose .........but here goes....

the way i understand it and they way it works for me is this...

OR an easier way to understand it... anyways...
============================================
the moon is broken into four time periods or quarters

the first quarter is : from the skinny moon (or new moon) up to half moon

(btw on the days it changes to exactly half moon is always good fishing)

thats when you plant your above ground crops like peas, lettuce, cabbage, and broccolli , peppers and tomatoes.ect

2nd Quarter is
as the moon is (and they call it "WAXING" as it gains light) going from the 1/2 moon up to full moon this again is the very best time to plant the above ground crops because the hydroscopic pressure is BUILDING or pushing upwards and peaks out at the full moon ok... and thats what forces water into seeds making them germinate...


(fishing tidbit: whether its increased light, pressure, or highest tide
crabs go into their mating cycle and are on the move at full moon)

and that concludes the second quarter .... but that last 7 days between the 1/2 moon up to full moon is the really best time to plant anything or prune anything as it increases growth....
the very best time to plant grass seed for example

after the full moon:

after the full moon starts to "wane" and loose light thats when you plant your below ground root crops such as potatoes, carrots beets, radishes ect
as now the ground is PULLING downwards... or do your transplanting

so the third quarter is from full moon loosing light or "waning" back down to a half moon again.

the fourth quarter from a waning moon back down to skinny is generally for destroying unwanted weeds and doing all cultivation.

when your planting your garden know this... anything planted directly into the ground via seed outgrows or out produces a transplanted plant... at least in my experience especially with Broccoli so i always do BOTH ... i direct seed and i plant in flats for replacements and for crop insurance...you could say...indoors too.

sweet peas want a very warm spot and aren't as cold hardy as its edible cousin the sugar snap ... which will grow thru snow...

the trick with them (all peas) is to also by a bag of the black powder called innoculant and you can either pre soak & swell the sweet pea seeds in a plastic bag then shake and bake the powder onto them....or you salt this innoculant powder into the row with pea seeds to make sure they have it in the soil with them.

This innoculant helps them form the Tiny root nodules that affix nitrogen right out of the atmosphere and allows them to self fertilize themselves so to speak and it is extremely important.

Happy Easter :eek:

the very best days would be april 17th after 6 pm
which is 3 days before the full moon... for sweet peas

prior to that april 10th 11th and 12... is the (my) BIGGY :soon:

Berry trees or do you mean bushes. What exactly do you have. It helps to know.

Thanks for taking the time to share great info, appreciated!:btu: One more question:D,,, do the same rules apply to string beans?

Gilly, I have have an excellent book called 'Pruning made easy' by Lewis Hill you can use, the book is a visual guide to when and how to prune everything..... ooor ask someone ya know;).
Are you referring to autumn olive berries as in the pic?

I also have that book. Very good info. Pruning for fruit and pruning for looks are 2 different things. County Extension Service has free seminars every spring . They will show you lots of techniques. Unfortunately Plymouth County extensions was yesterday. Bristol could have one too. Better if you can let someone show you. Really can't screw up other than cutting off this years fruit buds. It will all grow back. Don't be shy. If you are interested and what to come by my house I would be happy to show you as I have lots to do in the next 2 weeks with many different varieties of fruits. Paul

[QUOTE=Goose; One more question:D,,, do the same rules apply to string beans? [/QUOTE]

Goose Rav is waaay ahead of me on this stuff, but the rule of thumb for me has been to wait for the maples to leaf out before planting string beans.

These are the ones offered at the local Home Depots....

I believe they're raspberry bushes I guess.....black, white and traditional red ?

Thanks Professor/Goose. :wave:

Gilly , from what i understand, plant branches on like rasberry and black berry will only produce fruit once and should be cut back in the spring to allow for new growth.

when you prune

and your removing the tips ... when you do that your sending the growth compounds down to the segment below it establishing that as the leader... and that stimulates the majority of the growth to happen there... so you want to do it so it compliments the shape

of the bush or plant and the branch is aiming towards the outside
of the plant in the direction you want it to go

I added a picture -

Should I "A" - Cut the larger branches ONLY and as Raven says, trim it in a way that I want it to grow, perhaps also tying the bush tighter with some vine for a tighter bush.

OR ~

Should I "B" - Cut every branch visible, and follow the same growth patterns as I did in "A"

...and should I be making my cuts at an angle or straight across, or does it matter much?

...Goose, let's trade books. :D

Couple things. You don't want to grow red and black near each other. There is a disease that the reds carry and will infect your blacks eventually. At least a 100 feet apart. There are 2 different types of berries out there today, Summer bearing and everbearing. The summer bearing, which you probably have , bear fruit on last years canes. So if you have canes from 2 years ago you cut them back to the ground, they are dead. Last years canes will have your fruit for this year and then you will also get new canes from the crown of the plant for next years crop to replace this years. Pruning is more important to do it this summer on the new growth to make plant ready to bear next year. Any pruning you do this year on last years growth will cut down on your fruit. Confusing I know but not really. Lets take black rasp. They are different than reds in that they don't send out runners, roots, to form new plants. They spread by tip rooting. The stem grows very long bends to the ground and roots. This is a good way to get more plants if you want. Let tip root and grow for a year and cut it off and replant the new rooting. see picture below. I throw lots away each year. No room. Now since they grow so long I cut them back, the year they are growing, new growth , as soon as they get to be 4 feet high, cut right off. This will then cause the the stem to send out lateral branches, side branches, this is where your crop will come from. Once the side branches get to be 2 foot I cut them, because they will grow long and try to root and i don't need any more plants. The following year you are good to go and will only need a little tiny bit, if at all, of pruning to keep them from getting unruly. Once I harvest the crop I cut them down to the ground to make way for the new growing stems of next years crop. You can wait till the following spring to clean out the old canes, which I need to do this year, but gives the new growth more room if you do after harvest. It gets really crowded. Reds are done pretty much the same way. What grows this year is next years crop. All else is cut to the ground.

You are not pruning raspberries for form, such as apples and blueberries, which bear on old wood. No need to sculpt the bush, as in the diagrams you posted above, as it dies and regrows every year. Diagrams are for other types of plants, not raspberries, more like blueberries or ornamental plants. With raspberries what you grow this year will be gone after next. You don't have to worry about which way the branches go as it will be very crowded anyway.

You also should set up a trellis for them as you don't want them leaning on the ground and getting smooshed and eaten by insects and easier to control.
1st picture of rooting tip. Cut above roots and plant #2 you can see where I cut long stem last summer to stop growth and you can see side shoots off that stem that will grow this year and produce fruit.

Here you can see all the old canes and the new from last year. I need to clean out the old stuff from last year. You can see the difference in the color of the cane to distinguish the dead, brown, from the live, purple wood.

I have red rasp. growing wild in my yard so I don't tend to them too much. I get plenty just from neglect. I much prefer the black raspberries for taste and do keep them taken care of. #1 is red raspberries thriving on neglect and #2 is picture of trellis. You can also see the side shoots coming off a main stem. If these side shoots get too long i cut them back to about 2 feet. That is where your buds will form and flower and fruit will be.

Here is a post last year you can see how thick the raspberries get when they are growing.
http://www.striped-bass.com/Stripertalk/showthread.php?t=42208&highlight=berry+time


If you remind me during the summer I will take a photo of them when I prune them. Like I said before you are welcome to stop by and I can show you first hand. Hopefully this was helpful and not too boring. You can't hurt the plant, only loose some fruit. Everbearing plants produce 2 crops, the majority the first year onthe tips in late summer,fall. They then put out a small crop the following year early. You need to know the variety so you don't cut back after first crop and loose the second one. Here is where I buy all my small fruits.
http://www.noursefarms.com/Catalog/Category/RASPBERRIES.aspx

Great INFO, yeah it was a little confusing the first 2 times that I read it, but after reading all your replys a couple more times, I think I get it.

Thanks for the invite, I will keep it and you in mind. :kewl:

Good. I tend to put too much info when I type something. Bottom line is you can't hurt the plant. Fruit forms on last years growth. After done fruiting cut to ground to make room for what is coming up this year out of crown for next years fruit. Constant cycle. Wow that was much simpler. Forget about all the other rambling.

when you prune

and your removing the tips ... when you do that your sending the growth compounds down to the segment below it establishing that as the leader... and that stimulates the majority of the growth to happen there... so you want to do it so it compliments the shape

of the bush or plant and the branch is aiming towards the outside
of the plant in the direction you want it to go

If I remember my botany classes: what you are actually doing by removing the growing tip (apical meristem) you remove the source of auxins which inhibit the growth from the lateral buds. When the tip is removed, the lateral buds start to grow and in some plants one of the lateral buds becomes dominate and produces the auxin which inhibits the lateral buds again. In other plants most/all of the lateral buds continue to develop, each with an active tip which inhibits lateral buds on each stem.