Gabelmans Gardens

Spring is just around the corner and now is the time to get all those spring projects ready for a burst of color. A great time for cleaning the debris off the bottom of our ponds. Getting manure on our gardens and tilled in good so it has time to settle in and won”t hurt tender roots. In a couple of weeks it will be time to fertilize the bamboo along with some other plants as well. Then a good layer of mulch for everything in the yard and we will be off to a great start. As for the greenhouse I”m going to see if I can keep it going all through the year. Finally, I will be able to grow some veggies that will not be eaten by the local wildlife. For many years now I have made several attempts at growing corn but I have them going great and we get a big windstorm and it flattens them everytime and then come the critters to eat what they can reach and what they can”t reach they pull it down and devour the rest. Not anymore no wind and no critters in the greenhouse. I hope this will be the year that I finally get to actually eat some of the Silver Queen. And tomatoes don”t even get me started, it seem just as the plants are looking great and starting to put out tons of blooms along come the hungry deer and eat them all the way to the ground. Very frustrating to say the least. Or try about 5 or 6 rows of beans that have just come up about a week or two earlier only to be eaten to the ground by those cute little dastardly bunnies. Squirrels can be a nuisence as well when you”ve just planted like 150 tulip bulbs and come back the next couple of days to find the holes reopened and the bulbs are gone. Those little buggers love tulip bulbs darnit. Both rabbits and squirrels eat my baby bamboo shoots. Things are going to change this year as I am taking back my garden and putting it under glass. I am already enjoying the benefits of having a greenhouse and I urge you to do the same. Here is a list of the plants already growing in the greenhouse; Bamboo, Banana trees(dormant), Plumeria, Bird of Paradise(dormant), Radishes, Corn, Hostas, Hydrangeas, and numerous cutting just taken about three weeks ago. These include; dwarf alberta spruce, magnolia tree, willow tree, weeping willow tree, cherry tree, lilacs, clumping bamboo, azaeleas, boxwood hedges, and forsythia bush. These are all just for experimental purposes only. For my knowledge and practices. I found that the best way to learn is through trial and error. Better to have tried and failed than to never have tried at all. It’’s amazing to me sometimes what actually works. I find it very rewarding to be able to cut a part off of a plant stick it in some soil and grow an exact duplicate of the original plant. Or to grow something from seed to have it grow into a beautiful plant. I started some seeds from a hosta that I have in my yard now I have about 100 little baby hostas it’’s awesome. Gotta go for now. Thanks for reading.

Yes, it’’s just around the corner. The most amazing time of the year for me anyway. In about the second week in March it will be time to fertilize for me in Northern Kentucky. For those of you north of me I would wait another two weeks. For people who grow bamboo you know exactly what I”m talking about. Bamboo shooting season will have myself and many others on their hands and knees crawling around in their yard looking for new shoots. I know this sounds a little nuts but, when you see the speed at which these things grow you too will be astonished. I am expecting big things this year it will be my 9th year growing it and last year my canes really started to size up. I expect the canes to grow to 30 ft tall this year and around 1 1/2 inches in diameter. My groves are really starting to fill in nicely. I”m looking at getting around 3000 new canes this year, how exciting is that? As always Gabelmans Gardens offers you the chance to experience this amazing transformation of my gardens and see what you might be missing out on. Starting April 1st the shooting begins in the second and third week of April is when the magic really begins.  The shoots will be growing about a 1 1/2 ft. in a 24 hour period. By the end of the third month the canes will be fully grown and have leaves and branches. (WOW!) 3 months, 30 ft. tall.  But, that’’s nothing compared to what it grows like in the tropics. Up to 4 1/2 ft a day 80 to 100 ft in three months with leaves and branches. They don”t call it the magic plant for nothing. If you”d like to come out and check out the bamboo shooting  feel free to contact me by calling (859)468-5625 and set up an appoitment. This will take place from April to June. So come out and get started in this exciting new world of gardening. I also have many other projects going on that I will share with you as well. Bamboo can be contained very easily and if you stop by I will teach you how to have your bamboo and keep it right where you want it. It will not take over if you don”t let it. 4 methods of control. Bamboo gets a bad reputation for taking over your whole yard, but it only tries to survive just like every other plant in the world and will only go as far as you and mother nature will allow it to. So all the horror stories come from lazy gardeners who just give up and let it take over. A grove of bamboo is like a tree in the way that every year it gets bigger and stronger, only difference being that a tree has one trunk and the bamboo grove has many many canes(culms). A grove of bamboo will provide much more cover for wildlife that are losing their homes due to human overpopulation. Not to mention that it will provide us with some green foliage during the dead of winter and looks real nice in the snow. Who knows how many uses there are for this incredible plant thousands maybe even millions of uses. I guess we will never know the answer to that. What I do know is that this plant is used by more people for more things than any other plant in the world. Thanks for reading. Jeff

A pond in your greenhouse may not sound like a good idea, but I am glad I put this in first. Right now it’’s perfect for what I need. I”m sure that in the future this will not be enough space, but for now it’’s just the right size. It serves many purposes and so far it has not dropped below 45 degrees f. It has it’’s own waterfall that runs off a car battery with solar panels to charge it. This is a pretty cool setup cause I have it on a switch and only run it when I”m in there. It’’s all about goin green. Very cool and free to run. Fish and plants are happy which in turn makes me happy. I also have some barrels painted black filled with water and the walls and ceiling are well insulated with plastic sheeting. My glazing is glass windows and my roof is vinyl corrugated sheeting. It holds the heat pretty good average nightime lows are about 44 degrees f. Daytime highs as of today 76 degrees f. I still have alot to learn but I having fun doing it. And I”ll be sure to keep you posted and thanks for reading. Jeff

Things are going great so far. I am learning so much info on the forums it’’s incredible. I wish i had started this many years ago. I mean don”t get me wrong I”ve been growing vegetable gardens for years, but this is a totally different animal. Being able to grow these plants inside with 1 1/2 ft of snow on the ground outside is really cool. So, here’’s what I”ve been up to: First I built some seed trays out of some old cornhole boards turned upsidedown and mounted to the wall about 3 ft off the ground. Two of these built into the corner. Then I planted some seeds of some things I had just laying around from years past. Radishes, corn, hosta, and Japanese Maples seeds. The radishes, corn and hostas are doing great, but the Jap. Maps have shown no signs of sprouting. I don”t think I cooled them long enough in the stratification process. So it’’s back to the drawing board on that one. Lesson #1 Never plant all of your seed unless you only have a few. Just remember that it takes another year to get seed to try again. Lesson #2 Try germinating many different ways to see which way works best for your situation. And the best germination rates. I have also been trying my luck with cuttings of the plants in my gardens 2 weeks in so far and everything looks good but we will see. This is my first attempt at multiple cuttings from many different plants and trees. I will let you know how it goes. I am having alot of fun growing these hosta seed. The germination rate is about 95%. I do not know the species name but the seeds are very fertile. And this time  I saved some of these for later in the year or for trades. I also have many different bamboos in the greenhouse that I divided from my stock. Man I”m just getting started but I can”t wait to see nice big beautiful Tomato plants in ther loaded down with ripe tomatoes. I will also be trying lots of other veggies as well as soon as it warms a little more. If you”ve ever wanted a greenhouse you really should go for it. I am just realizing what I should have been doing for the last 25 years. Greenhouse gardening is very stress releaving and a great hobby. See ya next time. Jeff