PhoenixWench wrote:
On 5/18/2011 6:05 PM, Chris wrote:
On May 16, 7:05 pm, wrote:
On May 16, 6:51 pm, wrote:

A week of temps in the 50s. Rain off and on, and fog most of the time.
My peas, lettuce, and broccoli are loving life out there, but my poor
cuke, tomato, pepper, eggplant, and such seedlings are whining at me
from the window, "We want sun! We want sun!"

Sigh.

You can please some of the garden some of the time, the rest of the
garden some other time, but give up on pleasing all of the garden all
of the time...

Chri

Have a Jimmy Dean breakfast product and maybe Mother Nature will start
to cooperate
I don't know where you are in New York but I spent most of my in the
Binghamton area so I remember your pain. Hang in there, June will be
there before you know it.
MJ

I'm in Rockaway- New York City.

And I swear some of those lettuce plants have doubled in size in the
last 3 days.

Chris
Hi - I'm in the NY Catskills, and haven't seen more than a few fleeting
minutes of sun in so long my joke is that I don't need to wear eyeshadow
- the green mildew is doing the job :-(

I'm glad I didn't waste money and time starting seeds or buying plants
yet - the ground is so consistently soggy the only thing growing is weeds and fungi :-P

Oh well, we had a wet Spring a couple years ago that abruptly turned into
premature August, so next week I plan to take my wallet and heart in hand
and get some starts - tomatoes, peppers and petunias mostly, and hope for the best.

The weather map right now looks more like a Nor' Easter than a "normal"
Spring pattern, but that can change - and usually does, so I keep hoping ;-)

It is bad here in Michigan also. My garden area is sill muck. My lawn was
mowed today and was very tall and wet clumps and tire streaks left behind.
Today was a nice day got up to 70F. Tomorrow looks nice also. Scattered
Rain for Sunday thru Wednesday. Will it ever dry out?

At least my rain barrels are full incase of a early dry pattern.

--
Enjoy Life... Nad R (Garden in zone 5a Michigan)

On May 20, 5:13*pm, Nad R wrote:
PhoenixWench wrote:
On 5/18/2011 6:05 PM, Chris wrote:
On May 16, 7:05 pm, *wrote:
On May 16, 6:51 pm, *wrote:

A week of temps in the 50s. Rain off and on, and fog most of the time.
My peas, lettuce, and broccoli are loving life out there, but my poor
cuke, tomato, pepper, eggplant, and such seedlings are whining at me
from the window, "We want sun! We want sun!"

Sigh.

You can please some of the garden some of the time, the rest of the
garden some other time, but give up on pleasing all of the garden all
of the time...

Chri

Have a Jimmy Dean breakfast product and maybe Mother Nature will start
to cooperate
I don't know where you are in New York but I spent most of my in the
Binghamton area so I remember your pain. Hang in there, June will be
there before you know it.
MJ

I'm in Rockaway- New York City.

And I swear some of those lettuce plants have doubled in size in the
last 3 days.

Chris
Hi - I'm in the NY Catskills, and haven't seen more than a few fleeting
minutes of sun in so long my joke is that I don't need to wear eyeshadow
- the green mildew is doing the job :-(

I'm glad I didn't waste money and time starting seeds or buying plants
yet - the ground is so consistently soggy the only thing growing is weeds and fungi :-P

Oh well, we had a wet Spring a couple years ago that abruptly turned into
premature August, so next week I plan to take my wallet and heart in hand
and get some starts - tomatoes, peppers and petunias mostly, and hope for the best.

The weather map right now looks more like a Nor' Easter than a "normal"
Spring pattern, but that can change - and usually does, so I keep hoping ;-)

It is bad here in Michigan also. My garden area is sill muck. My lawn was
mowed today and was very tall and wet clumps and tire streaks left behind..
Today was a nice day got up to 70F. Tomorrow looks nice also. Scattered
Rain for Sunday thru Wednesday. Will it ever dry out?

At least my rain barrels are full incase of a early dry pattern.


--NAD, do you put anything in your rain barrels to avoid mosquitoes or other contamination? Like bleach or something else? Of course it would have to be "mild" enough not to harm plants when it is eventually poured on them.

HB

Higgs Boson wrote:
On May 20, 5:13 pm, Nad R wrote:

At least my rain barrels are full incase of a early dry pattern.


--NAD, do you put anything in your rain barrels to avoid mosquitoes or
other contamination? Like bleach or something else? Of course it would
have to be "mild" enough not to harm plants when it is eventually poured on them.

HB

I put nothing in them. My barrels are small with an open top, only forty
gallons each under each of the five downspouts. So they fill up fast and
then overflow. The over flow seems to keep bugs and green muck (a
scientific term here) from forming on top. I use them one at a time. If it
does not rain and I see bugs or green muck then I will top them off from my
well water or top it off from another barrel so it overflows until muck is
gone.

However, the green muck does not bother me. Mosquitoes tend to come from
the drainage ditches or my 1/2 acre pond. Which I can also be used to feed
the garden. However, I prefer the pond full and use the barrels or the well
waters hard line ( non filtered). The rain barrels are more convenient.
When the pond gets low the edge is a muddy muck for more mosquitoes. I do
have a hand pump also from the pond... Just in case of severe drought and
not over use the well (expensive).

Things are starting to dry out now. Just a scattered shower each day
instead of the long rains. Memorial Weekend is usually the big garden
planting time here in Michigan. This weekend may still be too wet for the
main canning garden (about 5,000 sq ft). I will get the smaller kitchen
garden (about 64 sq ft) going that are raised beds near my back deck.

--
Enjoy Life... Nad R (Garden in zone 5a Michigan)

On Tue, 24 May 2011 01:14:53 +0000 (UTC), Nad R
wrote:

Higgs Boson wrote:
On May 20, 5:13 pm, Nad R wrote:

At least my rain barrels are full incase of a early dry pattern.


--NAD, do you put anything in your rain barrels to avoid mosquitoes or
other contamination? Like bleach or something else? Of course it would
have to be "mild" enough not to harm plants when it is eventually poured on them.

HB

I put nothing in them. My barrels are small with an open top, only forty
gallons each under each of the five downspouts. So they fill up fast and
then overflow. The over flow seems to keep bugs and green muck (a
scientific term here) from forming on top. I use them one at a time. If it
does not rain and I see bugs or green muck then I will top them off from my
well water or top it off from another barrel so it overflows until muck is
gone.

However, the green muck does not bother me. Mosquitoes tend to come from
the drainage ditches or my 1/2 acre pond.

If you aerate your pond that will cut the mosquito population way
down... keep that water moving and mosquitos can't breed.

Brooklyn1 Gravesend1 wrote:
On Tue, 24 May 2011 01:14:53 +0000 (UTC), Nad R
wrote:

Higgs Boson wrote:
On May 20, 5:13 pm, Nad R wrote:

At least my rain barrels are full incase of a early dry pattern.


--NAD, do you put anything in your rain barrels to avoid mosquitoes or
other contamination? Like bleach or something else? Of course it would
have to be "mild" enough not to harm plants when it is eventually poured on them.

HB

I put nothing in them. My barrels are small with an open top, only forty
gallons each under each of the five downspouts. So they fill up fast and
then overflow. The over flow seems to keep bugs and green muck (a
scientific term here) from forming on top. I use them one at a time. If it
does not rain and I see bugs or green muck then I will top them off from my
well water or top it off from another barrel so it overflows until muck is
gone.

However, the green muck does not bother me. Mosquitoes tend to come from
the drainage ditches or my 1/2 acre pond.

If you aerate your pond that will cut the mosquito population way
down... keep that water moving and mosquitos can't breed.

it does have aerator pumps in the pond. I however do not need them on windy
days the pond is big and last tested good for potability. I will turn on
the pumps on those hot summer days with little wind. Those pumps are costly
to run. A big mistake not going with windmills instead, but they cost money
also and does not work on those windless summer days.

I learned to live with them, stay inside after a rain and before it gets
dark outside. When the sun shines the bugs seem to go away. I wear light
weight long sleeve shirts and spray my clothes with a bug repellent when
they get bad. Mid summer misquotes seem to go away.

--
Enjoy Life... Nad R (Garden in zone 5a Michigan)

Nad R wrote:
Brooklyn1 Gravesend1 wrote:
On Tue, 24 May 2011 01:14:53 +0000 (UTC), Nad R
wrote:

Higgs Boson wrote:
On May 20, 5:13 pm, Nad R wrote:

At least my rain barrels are full incase of a early dry pattern.


--NAD, do you put anything in your rain barrels to avoid mosquitoes or
other contamination? Like bleach or something else? Of course it would
have to be "mild" enough not to harm plants when it is eventually poured on them.

HB

I put nothing in them. My barrels are small with an open top, only forty
gallons each under each of the five downspouts. So they fill up fast and
then overflow. The over flow seems to keep bugs and green muck (a
scientific term here) from forming on top. I use them one at a time. If it
does not rain and I see bugs or green muck then I will top them off from my
well water or top it off from another barrel so it overflows until muck is
gone.

However, the green muck does not bother me. Mosquitoes tend to come from
the drainage ditches or my 1/2 acre pond.

If you aerate your pond that will cut the mosquito population way
down... keep that water moving and mosquitos can't breed.

it does have aerator pumps in the pond. I however do not need them on windy
days the pond is big and last tested good for potability. I will turn on
the pumps on those hot summer days with little wind. Those pumps are costly
to run. A big mistake not going with windmills instead, but they cost money
also and does not work on those windless summer days.

I learned to live with them, stay inside after a rain and before it gets
dark outside. When the sun shines the bugs seem to go away. I wear light
weight long sleeve shirts and spray my clothes with a bug repellent when
they get bad. Mid summer misquotes seem to go away.

One thing we Michiganders will get in a couple of weeks here are the
infamous May Flies swarms... Turn out the lights... and learn to live with
nature.

--
Enjoy Life... Nad R (Garden in zone 5a Michigan)

On Tue, 24 May 2011 02:48:47 +0000 (UTC), Nad R
wrote:

Brooklyn1 Gravesend1 wrote:
On Tue, 24 May 2011 01:14:53 +0000 (UTC), Nad R
wrote:

Higgs Boson wrote:
On May 20, 5:13 pm, Nad R wrote:

At least my rain barrels are full incase of a early dry pattern.


--NAD, do you put anything in your rain barrels to avoid mosquitoes or
other contamination? Like bleach or something else? Of course it would
have to be "mild" enough not to harm plants when it is eventually poured on them.

HB

I put nothing in them. My barrels are small with an open top, only forty
gallons each under each of the five downspouts. So they fill up fast and
then overflow. The over flow seems to keep bugs and green muck (a
scientific term here) from forming on top. I use them one at a time. If it
does not rain and I see bugs or green muck then I will top them off from my
well water or top it off from another barrel so it overflows until muck is
gone.

However, the green muck does not bother me. Mosquitoes tend to come from
the drainage ditches or my 1/2 acre pond.

If you aerate your pond that will cut the mosquito population way
down... keep that water moving and mosquitos can't breed.

it does have aerator pumps in the pond. I however do not need them on windy
days the pond is big and last tested good for potability. I will turn on
the pumps on those hot summer days with little wind. Those pumps are costly
to run. A big mistake not going with windmills instead, but they cost money
also and does not work on those windless summer days.

I learned to live with them, stay inside after a rain and before it gets
dark outside. When the sun shines the bugs seem to go away. I wear light
weight long sleeve shirts and spray my clothes with a bug repellent when
they get bad. Mid summer misquotes seem to go away.

I would have a windmill anyway, they'll work when they do but even on
calm days they look nice. Unfortunately everything to do with ponds
is 'spensive.
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