lavender

As klsm pointed out and a number of others touched on it is the hidden cost that raises the tomato price to $64. When we moved to DuBois I had a small shed built with windows and lights for my plants. That cost about $500 but I had a truckload of house plants and no place for them while we waited for our house to be built. My veggie plants went in there. When we moved I started out raising my plants in the basement under lights. Price: seeds and two florescent lights. This graduated to a small greenhouse structure in the basement to keep the cat out and the plants from drying out. There was vinyl pipe and plastic involved. Then we build a 10' by 20' glass and steel greenhouse add-on to the house. You don't want to know what the kit cost! Hubby was willing to do anything at that point to get my plants out of the house. That was heated all winter by our household heating system and my transplants had to go outside fairly early due to room limitations so hubby found a big plastic and wood greenhouse for sale. That didn't cost much except in aggravation in tearing it down and reconstructing it. (He said if he ever mentions the words "greenhouse" and "buy" in the same sentence I should shoot him.) Since I'm a "dirt" gardener I don't put that much into actual gardening. We make our own compost and salvage materials to build beds. Of course, we have to have a tractor to move all that stone around! Animal control costs a bit too. We finally got rid of the ugly snow fencing but the stuff that replaced it wasn't high enough so we had to buy netting last year. It goes on and on. However, you should see my broccoli and cauliflower! Worth every penny of what it costs and I'm not going to figure it out.

Brian says his wife is getting into organic gardening and finds it expensive. I'm reading a book called The $64 Dollar Tomato and working on an article on whether vegetable gardening is more expensive than buying veggies. I've been growing all of our vegetables for 20 years now and have no real idea as to what it costs. So what to those of you who actually grow vegetables think? Is it cost effective? I'm too busy growing stuff to actually price it out and don't really care enough (not going to quit gardening anyway!) just your impressions. And can I quote you for my newsletter?

Yes, you probably need something to protect seedlings. It has been my experience that young plants in pots do not do well outside. So what do you think, is vegetable gardening worth it? I'm writing an article this month on whether you spend more growing those tomatoes than it would cost you to buy them. I just read a book called the $64 Dollar Tomato and what I've see with the author of that little gem is unreal expectations. I should start another thread. Hang on.

Ted said that he had to get some from a friend for his own garden. They aren't as nice as his. He was still selling the nice ones when I was out there. The man plants two acres! Now there is a gardener! Likes to talk too. How long have you been gardening, Brian?

Juniata Street on the right hand side after the turn. I think it is just after the bridge. You will see the greenhouse before you see the sign. It sets way back. His prices are more than reasonable for what you are getting. I hate putting in plants that don't grow! He didn't have the Wave petunias this year but last year we got them for $2.50 a six or eight pack. They were selling elsewhere for that for one plant.

I'm trying something different this year. I usually raise all of my plants from seed. It works well for most things but I'm thinking that maybe peppers are better raised under more professional conditions so this year I bought all of my pepper plants. I'm going with sweet banana and Ace. They ones I got at Lyon's Greenhouse were super plants. If anyone is still in need he has tons of plants left.

You can do either with them. I was told to just sprinkle them around the plant. They provide a source of Magnesium which peppers need and which often isn't in fertilizers. Fid out what is eating your peppers yet?

The sweet yellow banana peppers are a more consistent producer for me than the bell peppers. Occasionally I'll get a crop of bells but they tend to be small to medium in size. The odd thing is that my father-in-law who is seven minutes closer to town grew great peppers on scrungy, anemic looking plants for years. He swore by Epsom salts. I tried that but it didn't seem to help mine.

Wisteria is insane! No, it probably isn't as heavy as the two kiwis that caused my problem but it gets out of control if you don't keep it pruned. Wisteria can grow to over 70 feet in length. Once you let a vine go up a tree you have lost control. To regain it you would have to cut the vine back down to the base. I'm afraid that it will harm the tree eventually. It is actually considered an invasive species harmful to forests It is an enormously powerful vine and can gird a tree. It also prevents the tree from getting sufficient sunlight. http://www.nps.gov/plants/alien/fact/wist1.htm You can actually grow wisteria as a tree by supporting the vine until it forms a trunk and keeping the top pruned into a canopy. It looks like a lot of work though for what would always be a small plant. I think the big wisteria trees are grafted onto an actual tree trunk. http://www.whiteflowerfarm.com/growing-wisteria-standards.html

It is not really a good idea to let vines go up trees. We had a very large maple tree come down a couple of years ago and I'm sure a contributing factor was the big kiwi vines growing up it. The rain soaked the leaves and the weight of the whole thing was just too much for the tree. Wisteria will grow anywhere but it will bloom only in the sun. I've got it growing all through the woods and over a gazebo. It is planted too near the tree line and doesn't get enough sun to bloom. I've cut it to the ground, root pruned it and threatened it with Round-up. Nothing makes it bloom. One of these days I'll use the Round-up. If you can give it a nice trellis in the sun and keep it under control.

I'm going to go for a foot or two, I think. I can always do more next year but I can't put it back if I hate it. Over pruning is ugly. You can dig up those little suckers and make a whole new bush. I have to crawl around under Miss Kim and see if there are any.

I did a huge mock orange this spring. I cut out just some of the branches to open it up a bit and make it shorter. I think I'll tackle the lilac after it is done blooming. How are you going to do yours? I hate to ruin the shape of it. Maybe just take some off the top?

That is a Miss Kim lilac on the left. Supposedly a miniature lilac. The fragrance is unbelievable. The Rhododendron on the right is at least 20 years old. Both are overgrown but I haven't the heart to cut them back.

It won't stop the germination of seeds but it might kill the small plants. The only thing that I can think to do would be to water, water and more water. This will dilute the salts which in too high a concentration will kill roots. If your leaves are actually turning brown you probably did over-fertilize. If it is just wilting you might be OK. If you actually have visible piles of fertilizer in the garden remove them. This rain will help.

You have a beautiful collection of Rhododendrons. I have one that is so big that I don't think it is possible to prune it anymore. Must get a picture. It is gorgeous but so overgrown.

I got some of them over 20 years ago and haven't had any trouble with them. They will bloom only in sun and perhaps all of the shade I have here keeps them under control. They are easy enough to dig out if they get out of hand since they are a small bulb. Even if you miss some they don't reproduce that fast. As for toxic, well so are lily of the valley, foxgloves, rhododendrons and hundreds of other plants.

Lucky you! You must have a perfect spot for them. They say there is some bacteria or something that they need in the soil or they won't thrive. Someone told me once that they were growing around the parking lot at Bilger's Rocks. They are a protected and endangered species.

Don't medical schools have faculty that specializes in "bugs"? ;D

And I thought it was just me. ;D

All I can say is that it is something that chews like caterpillars or slugs but if it is eating out the inside of peppers without making big holes on the outside that can't really be what it is. You have weird bugs in South Carolina and need someone who is local to help you out. Don't you work for a university? Try the horticultural or entomology departments or I'm sure you have a County Extension Service somewhere. This one is out of my league.

Let us know how they grow. I've planted Brandywine tomatoes and I'm guessing that Brandyboy is a near relative. If you like odd tomatoes check out this catalogue http://www.totallytomato.com/ I've ordered all sorts of seeds from them but never plants. It's fun just to read about the different colors and shapes of tomatoes. Peppers, too! I just wish I could find a pepper that would fruit here with our cold nights.

Floating row covers really work for keeping off insects but are a bit of a pain and also an expense. I haven't used them since I lost my hoops one winter. The poor gardener's floating row cover is a large transparent plastic jug with the bottom cut out. I've used them on eggplant to keep off the flea beetles. They work well here and don't cook the plants but it might be too hot for them further south.

Read this: http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/PI040 We don't have things like the pepper weevil, or the western flower thrips here (Knock on wood!) but if they have them in Florida maybe you have them too. Nothing eats peppers in my yard except the deer and they get the whole plant. Can't you see anything on the plant? Some caterpillars might eat pepper plants, I guess.

Are you saying that something is eating the blossoms? That is very unusual.

I'd post pictures of my vegetable garden but you would have to magnify them to see the plants. I got green beans, yellow beans and two kinds of cucumbers in today. Also a dozen yellow Brazilian eggplants. I'm going to have to buy regular eggplant plants as mine are only an inch or so high. It will have to be Ichiban or something with a similar short growing season. It's too cold out here to get really good eggplant and peppers. Maybe I'll move to South Carolina.