I haven't planted anything yet this year (maybe this week), but the rhubarb is coming up nicely
(http://i702.photobucket.com/albums/ww28/jackc8/DSCN0082.jpg?t=1304887925)
How about you guys, what are you planting / planning to plant?
I've planted some grass seed in some dead patches of my yard and uh, that's about it. I always think about how I'd like to start gardening but I just never do it for some reason.
https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/nuLLQMoYe-GSZmfngmKdjw?feat=directlink
First year in my new place, I've mostly been clearing...
https://picasaweb.google.com/lilcerberus/5311?feat=directlink
Hungarian Hot Wax peppers, arugula
Is lime supposed to kill stuff, or nurture stuff?
I helped my mom do gardening today :thumbup:
Currently in the planning process. I probably am going to go way overboard this year, even more than previous years. My partner has already bought about a dozen cabbage and broccoli plants along with various other items. However, we are going to add a lot more to that list.
I have luckily acquired a ton of onions to plant. The land I'm on is more than adequate for growing softball sized onions so I look forward to that. However, they should be a b!tch to plant seeing its 1 every 2 inches.
I helped my sister in law plant her garden over the weekend. If all goes well she should have a good bounty.
I avoid gardening at all costs.
Three or four more stumps. They're not really bothering anybody, just a couple along the fence where I want to install a gate, the other two, I can't decide if I should dig them up, whittle them down, or just leave them be.
Other than some poison ivy, I'm still trying to decide what I want to keep, & what I want to get rid of.
My guy Sean gave me a pot with a few plants in it at xmas time. I've only just gotten around to repotting them all. I ended up with 5 separate plants plus 8 new ones that have budded on their own. I'm not sure what they're called - just your standard indoor pot plants, but they are lovely.
I had a chilli plant as well and put it on the verandah but the possums ate all the chillis!!! :buggedout: I don't know how they aren't dead!
I also planted curley parsley, flat leaved parsley and chives. They should come up in about 6 weeks
Quote from: Killer Bees on May 10, 2011, 04:46:25 AM
I had a chilli plant as well and put it on the verandah but the possums ate all the chillis!!! :buggedout: I don't know how they aren't dead!
My uncle and aunt are always having problems with animals eating their garden. One year a bunny, or maybe a woodchuck went through their whole strawberry patch and took one big bite out of each and every berry :bouncegiggle:
A few days ago something (deer, groundhog, rabbbit)came either late at night or early in the morning and pulled my recently planted flowers out of the ground and just left them there. I replanted them and the next night it came back and bit all the flowers off. :hatred:
I replanted them and decided to declare WAR! In a gallon water container I mixed up some chili powder, garlic powder, and black pepper with a little dish soap and left it on the porch to ferment for the day. Early that evening I heavily wet down my plants with the stuff. Geez, what a stink! But the next morning not a single plant had been touched!
I've been putting the stinky stuff on my plants everyday since and the critter hasn't been back! :teddyr:
I give you guys credit for handling the pests civilly. I would have gotten out a club and waited for them to arrive.
Quote from: Jack on May 10, 2011, 06:36:09 AM
Quote from: Killer Bees on May 10, 2011, 04:46:25 AM
I had a chilli plant as well and put it on the verandah but the possums ate all the chillis!!! :buggedout: I don't know how they aren't dead!
My uncle and aunt are always having problems with animals eating their garden. One year a bunny, or maybe a woodchuck went through their whole strawberry patch and took one big bite out of each and every berry :bouncegiggle:
One of the hardest fruits to actually get to enjoy are figs. My grandfather had a huge fig tree and some years he'd only get a handful. Even though he went through some pretty elaborate methods to protect them, the birds/squirrels would make it their mission to take at least one big bite out of each one.
Picked our first asparagus of the season yesterday. :thumbup: For once, the weather cooperated and I managed to get the fruit trees sprayed a week or two back. Now they are all blooming - cherries, apples, pears. They will need a heavy pruning in the fall, I did not do it this spring. I hope to plant a pair of peach trees soon, in place of the plums we took out.
The red and black currants are coming on well, as are the gooseberries. So are the currant/gooseberry hybrids. The raspberries have 'escaped' their beds - I will be rounding them up and re-planting them in there today. They're worth the work. I have some strawberries in big pots. I re-potted them earlier this spring and they look happy: hard to beat our 'home-grown' well-rotted horse manure!
Haven't tilled the garden patch yet: it is still too wet. We've had a record wet spring thus far. I hope it dries soon enough to get our 'longer' crops in: we like several varieties of sweet corn that need a longer season, as do the broccoli and cauliflower.
Sunny and summer-like today; I am about to head out and get some yardwork done. The asparagus patch needs tidying and I have four young grapefruit trees to set out for the summer, in larger pots. A few cooler nights might help them set fruit, I am told. We'll see.
I hope to plant white popcorn again this year. That was good stuff.
Heres the run down of plants I'm hardening off right now:
18 (3 different) hot peppers ranging in heat index
6 yellow pear tomato plants
6 cherry tomato plants
6 okra plants (dunno, never grew it)
4 watermelon plants
4 yellow squash
4 zucchini
My partner in crime bought a bunch of stuff too. I believe he has a dozen broccoli and squash plants along with other tomato/pepper plants. I also have beans to plant and onions. We don't take gardening lightly...this is sport. :tongueout:
On a sidenote, I picked my first few quarts of strawberries at the inlaw's farm today. Good stuff man. :thumbup:
We've got our tomatoes in, 3 regular ones and a couple that have those little tomatoes. Wife loves those :smile: Planted most of the other stuff - onions, spinach, lettuce, and peas. Still have to dig up an area for the beans and peppers. I moved the tomatoes to a different spot since the ground was thoroughly burned out where they were. They get a ton more sun in their new spot too. I'll have to post some pictures tomorrow.
Our lettuce is coming along okay
(http://i702.photobucket.com/albums/ww28/jackc8/DSCN0097.jpg)
A few of my peas are doing okay
(http://i702.photobucket.com/albums/ww28/jackc8/DSCN0098.jpg)
Tomatoes
(http://i702.photobucket.com/albums/ww28/jackc8/DSCN0095.jpg)
Herbs
(http://i702.photobucket.com/albums/ww28/jackc8/DSCN0096.jpg)
Definitely need to do some weeding :teddyr:
I lost a few of the weaker tomato plants so I replaced them tonight. I'm probably going to put the stakes in this weekend. I loaded the ground with weed and feed so I hope it will cut back on the weeds this year.
The last few weeks have been crazy so today while weeding I took a count and I couldn't believe how much stuff we put in. We have literally over 40 tomato plants. Half of them are different varieties of smaller ones such as yellow pear, giant cherry, tumblers, etc. The other ones are celebs and better boys.
We have plenty of squash and zukes to go around. About 8 cuke plants and 4 watermelon which I pray to the gardening gods works this year. Last time I did a melon patch it bit the dust.
Peppers we have a good variety, probably at least about 50 plus plants.
One plant that earned a huge respect from me is cabbage. We had 6 plants that looked dead when we put them in two weeks ago. This week they are beyond vibrant.
Onions are looking great. Their tops are about 5 inches already.
Some of our stuff is doing good - especially the tomatoes, they're growing like weeds. Beans and lettuce are doing great as well, wife's already picking lettuce for dinner.
Only a few of the peas and spinach and onions came up. I'll have to plant some more. That's kind of typical for peas; last year we had a fantastic crop but more often than not only about 20% of the things come up at all. I don't have much hope for our peppers as the late frosts here prevented me from planting them until pretty late, and our growing season isn't really long enough for a good pepper crop even in the best of summers. But they are coming up at least :teddyr: Yeah I know you're supposed to start them inside and then transplant them, but, um...I never seem to get around to doing that :bouncegiggle:
We've got a bunny living around here, so instead of parsley, we've got chewed-off stems. :hatred:
I want to have a house with a yard someday. I would love to grow fresh tomatoes and peppers! :smile:
Can I ask a dumb noob question?... Can I grow tomatoes indoors by a window? Maybe a Topsy Turvy?
I can't grow them outside... too many hoodlums. All city... no grass.
Quote from: Venomx on June 28, 2011, 07:05:34 PM
Can I ask a dumb noob question?... Can I grow tomatoes indoors by a window? Maybe a Topsy Turvy?
I can't grow them outside... too many hoodlums. All city... no grass.
Its possible but I've never tried it. Tomatoes have the ability to grow over 5 feet tall too mind you.
I finally got around to doing my weeding today, and then I replanted some peas, onions and spinach that didn't come up before. Put in a row of parsley too. It's like it rains every day for a week, then it stops and within 48 hours the ground is dry as a bone.
My oldest amongst the soon to be cherry tomato jungle.
(http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i169/darksider66/garden2011ryan3.jpg)
While you all have been baking... we have broken 80 degrees exactly 8 times this year. And none really above 90.
Here's my tomato harvest.
(https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-qc4sujZTqjw/TjCVLcvBTKI/AAAAAAAAK4o/J7Hvb1sIlGk/s288/280315_2290402386274_1435433058_2695112_242881_o%2B%25281%2529.jpg)
Mark, your garden plot is doing great as always.
This year we've been having some problems. I think that my steady addition of peat moss to add volume to our clay-heavy soil made the soil a bit too acidic for things. Clay soil is acidic anyway. We've seen a lot of stunting and yellowing, especially the peppers. The spinach and beans did terrible as well. The zucchini, squash, and cucumbers have been so-so. The tomatoes, well I can still grow tomatoes by the bushel. We planted multiple plants, concentrating on lemon boy and a very hardy, rather large yellow cherry tomato that are called "Sweet Gold FT Hybrid." They're great, just have a tough skin. Wish I could find the "Tomatoberry" (that's what the sticker called them) that we raised last year.
Beets and carrots are looking good. The romaine lettuce was a bit bitter, I believe from the soil.
I have taken some steps to turn the soil around, but you can't just add lime and change PH overnight. I did add pelletized lime as a side dressing, along with bone meal. That helped the peppers a lot - they're starting to get some life to them. Also been using Miracle Gro (nitrogen).
Right now, I'm planning to change the garden to raised beds next year. That will allow me to tailor each bed to it's plants - I've been told that peppers hate peat moss. Go figure. Gah. The raised beds will get the PH under control. Oh, and I haven't had nearly enough time to keep up with weeding this year. Another bonus to raised beds will be reduced work in that department.
QuoteRight now, I'm planning to change the garden to raised beds next year.
Raised beds are indeed the in thing lately. My sister in law has one and its doing well.
QuoteMark, your garden plot is doing great as always.
Thanx, I'm starting to get in the first few bounties. About a dozen cukes picked over the last two days and one zuke. Speaking of which, I've noticed the squash are painfully SLOW this year. Usually at this point I'd have to get out the wheelbarrow for the daily squash bounty. I did get stuff in late.
What else...oh yeah, I noticed some baby watermelons on the vine. I really hope they do well. The tomatoes are doing phenomenal, especially the cherry varieties which I've opted to stake. The bigger ones I have grown on straw. I actually picked about a half dozen yellow pear tomatoes over the past days.
Peppers, meh kind of slow but getting there. The onions are actually bulking up a bit finally. Corn is just starting to come up and beans should be producing soon. Broccoli is slow too but producing heads here and there.
Our tomatoes are doing pretty good
(http://i702.photobucket.com/albums/ww28/jackc8/DSCN0105.jpg?t=1312071079)
Beans haven't got any beans yet, but they're looking healthy
(http://i702.photobucket.com/albums/ww28/jackc8/DSCN0106.jpg?t=1312072383)
Wife's eggplants are looking good
(http://i702.photobucket.com/albums/ww28/jackc8/DSCN0107.jpg?t=1312072486)
Wasn't a very good year otherwise though. Spinach was terrible, I don't know if slugs were eating it or what. Lettuce grew great, as always, but now it got too big so I ripped it up and I'll have to plant some more. Peppers are actually doing well, but as late as I planted them and as long as they take to grow, well...here's hoping :teddyr:
And this is my pitiful pea crop this year:
(http://i702.photobucket.com/albums/ww28/jackc8/DSCN0108.jpg?t=1312072668)
Feel free to laugh if you want :tongueout:
^ Those pea plants are as big as...well.....a pea. :bouncegiggle:
Quote from: Jack on July 30, 2011, 07:39:43 PM
Wasn't a very good year otherwise though. Spinach was terrible, I don't know if slugs were eating it or what. Lettuce grew great, as always, but now it got too big so I ripped it up and I'll have to plant some more. Peppers are actually doing well, but as late as I planted them and as long as they take to grow, well...here's hoping :teddyr:
Give the peppers a side dressing of bonemeal and epsom salts. That will help them. A small handful of the bonemeal is enough (I've never been able to overdo it), but just a sprinkling of the epsom is plenty.
well, bad news from me- I tried to grow Thyme and mint. The Intense heat in the beginning of June almost made them dry as a bone, but with the hernandez monsoons lately, they've been completely drowned. tried moving them out of harms way, but Mother Nature is one cruel mistress and it was too late. :hatred:
It was too wet too long this spring so we did not get the garden in. :bluesad: Then the cherries did not amount to much (weather again) and we ate all the strawberries and raspberries...so today I 'put up' the first of our season's fruit: made red currant jelly and I am pretty pleased with the results. Might experiment with a gooseberry pie tomorrow if there are enough left to make one.
Side note, I've had one of the best blueberry crops ever this year. I'm picking about a half quart a day.
I don't have the garden I wish I had - too many oak trees! But, I do have one thriving tomato plant in a pot that has lots of fruit on it... and I cut up our first tomato today and made salsa... it was great!!! :smile:
Quote from: The DarkSider on July 30, 2011, 07:45:45 PM
^ Those pea plants are as big as...well.....a pea. :bouncegiggle:
I picked the peas today - all
sixteen of them :teddyr:
Thanks for the advice about the peppers Andrew, I'll have to give that a try.
This year was really bad for my squash, zucchini, and beans. Also terrible were the beets (rabbits got them, and rabbits love beet greens) and my spinach. The peppers, cucumbers, and lettuce have been so-so. The tomatoes are going crazy, though all the rain this last week has been causing them to split like crazy. The little "Sweet Gold" variety is very good when you get them before they split, but they do have a thick skin.
Poor Andy's blueberries didn't do too well. Only a few berries and the birds got them. I think it's the clay soil we have here.
Garrett's strawberry patch was amazing. We picked quarts and quarts from it. Also, cilantro grows so crazy I could swear it's a weed.
I'm going to put in raised beds for next year. Started already by building two 8'x3' raised beds where I took out the squash and zucchini. I'm going to try for a late crop of beets, lettuce, and carrots in the beds. I made them 12" tall, which I'm hoping will keep the rabbits out of them.
I also built a raised bed for Andy's blueberries. Looked up information on blueberries: they like sandy, well-drained soil with quite a low PH (acidic). Filled the new bed with a mixture of peat, sand, organic garden soil, and pine bark. That should have the desired attributes. If not I can use some soil addendum to lower the PH more. Already moved the blueberries to the new bed, and we'll see how they go. I'm hoping transplanting them now will let them get over the shock in time to produce next year.
Also built 4 holders for PVC pipes into the blueberry bed. I'm planning on using thin and flexible PVC as a frame with netting to keep the birds off the blueberries.
Moved 2 cubic yards of topsoil today from my truck to the raised beds (I can't drive to them because of the drain field). That's 2 tons of soil about 30-40 yards each way. I'm tired and actually have a blister on my left pinky. My callouses must be getting soft with my old age.
^ Squash crops stunk this year, I think its because it became way too hot too quick. I'm lucky if I've gotten a dozen this year off the 6 or so plants I have. Same thing with cukes although they faired slightly better.
Tomatoes out here are the winners for most productive so far. They just started to turn over the past week. I picked several dozen large cherry toms a few days ago. This weekend we are planning a harvest-fest. I'll hopefully have pics by then.
Peppers have been VERY "meh". Onions are filling out slowly. Hopefully by September they'll be the size I'd like to harvest.
Beans did ok out here. They are still popping.
The blueberry bushes at my house were amazing this year. I had a qt every other day for several weeks. Sadly they have died down just over the past few days.
Finally picked a big bunch of beans yesterday, they were delicious :thumbup: I'm sure we'll have many more where those came from. Tomatoes are doing really well, except for one plant on the end, which happens to be the biggest and best producing one. The tomatoes are half eaten by some sort of bugs as soon as they start to ripen. I mixed a bit of dishsoap with water and put it in an old Windex bottle and sprayed the hell out of it. I read on the internet that makes a good bug killer or repellent. If that doesn't do the trick we got some stuff from the store that's supposed to be safe for spraying on vegetables.
Picked an eggplant yesterday, it was about 6" long. Those darned things have pickers on them :teddyr: My peppers are still growing well, but not even close to having any flowers, much less actual peppers. We were over at my Aunt and Uncles house a couple weeks ago and they've got bell peppers about 6" across! They gave us one of those - and some cucumbers of course :bouncegiggle: My wife's been printing out recipes from the 'net and trying them all sorts of different ways.
I don't do veggies, but I love my flowers! I have some established perennials like Astilbe, Bleeding Hearts, Chives, and daylilies in my front garden bed which started the Spring season, but I also grew a lot of stuff from seed this year, mostly annuals to add color and extend the growing season. I have:
annual zinnias in different colors (some almost 4 feet high) I have been cutting them and making bouquets for the house.
annual red saliva
perennial shasta daisies which I sowed last spring and they bloomed this year :teddyr:
annual morning glory and moonflower vines which are trailing up my deck railings. I started them late, so I don't know if they will bloom before frost (mid October at earliest) If they do, they are supposed to be self seeders.
annual white allysum which smells really sweet, another possible self seeder.
calendula (also known as pot marigolds) have flower buds now. Also potential self seeders
annual tall flowering balsam in mixed colors - just starting to bloom now. Supposed to be self seeding.
annual California poppies - one strong wind and the petals fall off, but they are pretty. Have them in a pot.
I've also started some perennials for next year that are potted up on my back deck:
oriental poppies (sprouts)
asters (sprouts)
purple coneflower - NOTHING YET. I've started seeds for these other years and I just can't seem to get them to grow :bluesad:
I also plan to plant some daffodils in the ground under a tree in the front yard in October or so. I also plan to pot up some up in the late Fall - 2 pots - one I will leave out all winter and the other I will drag into the garage. These will be an experiment.
All in all in has been a good growing season so far. :teddyr:
Post Irene harvest...yep thats a laundry basket too...
(http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i169/darksider66/harvest.jpg)
Quote from: DS on September 02, 2011, 12:46:53 PM
Post Irene harvest...yep thats a laundry basket too...
(http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i169/darksider66/harvest.jpg)
Those are some great looking cherry tomatoes! :thumbup:
^ TY, I have to admit the large cherry crop this year was a bumper. The plants today kind looked like crap. However, the celebs are starting to turn currently. I made my first batch of salsa.
Side note, okra ended up being odd but strangely addicting. The texture is oddly slimy but not bad when you get past the first two bites. It has a bit of a underlying sweetness and goes great with onions.
Our tomatoes are right at the peak of their production now. Nothing like a laundry basket full of cherries LOL, but way more than the family can eat. Spraying our big plant with the water/dish soap solution seems to have gotten rid of the bugs, but those things still split open on the top when they get big.
Gotta pick beans too - they're loaded. We got one eggplant, sort of tasted like alfalfa to me :bouncegiggle: Oh well, my wife likes that stuff. There are about 6 more eggplants, one or two almost big enough to pick. Pepper plants are tall and healthy, a couple of them even have some flowers on them. Now if the weather just stays nice for a couple more months, we should be good to go.
EDIT: Did some picking today
(http://i702.photobucket.com/albums/ww28/jackc8/DSCN0125.jpg)
Mr. Fluffies is doing his usual quality inspection. :teddyr:
^ Jack, you need to teach that cat some manners.
^ I'm afraid us humans exist only to serve the cat. If there's any teaching to be done, he's the one doing it :bouncegiggle:
All of the raised beds are built now, and over half have been filled with soil and addendums (some lime to counteract the peat moss, bone meal, manure). We planted 3 beds with a fall crop of beets, carrots, spinach, and buttercrunch lettuce. The results have been amazing. The beets are easily over a foot in height, with big healthy leaves. I've been thinning them out and we've been eating the greens in salads along with the lettuce and spinach. The lettuce and spinach are doing so well that I'm striving to give it away and cannot do so fast enough.
The main garden is beds 8'x3' by 12" deep and beds 3'x3' by 12" deep. They are lined up in twos, alternating pairs of square and rectangular beds. The small square ones are intended for herbs and flowers.
I filled most of the beds with a mixture of screened topsoil, peat moss, and bagged garden soil (Scotts and Miracle Gro). The bed for the peppers is only topsoil and organic garden soil, because I was told peppers hate peat moss. We'll find out how accurate that is next year.
I did some research on the blueberries since they were doing mediocre in their present location. Blueberries love acidic, well-drained soil. I made a 4'x4' by 12" deep bed for them. Filled it with topsoil, peat moss, sand, and pine bark mulch. The blueberries love it. Even though I moved them in August, they didn't appear to go through any transplant shock and put on new growth before the weather turned cool. Also built some mounts into the bed so we can easily cover them next year with netting to keep away the birds.
I have to pick and dry peppers this weekend. Hopefully that will go well.
put down some Pennington's fall mix where that mole killed off my lawn.
Got some oregano seed from work, several years old now, & put em in the planters out front.
The other day, I stole some seed pods from the mimosa tree at work, & keepin my fingers crossed.
Our herb garden is looking a little past its prime.
(http://i702.photobucket.com/albums/ww28/jackc8/DSCN0167.jpg?t=1323105599)
I think gardening season in Minnesota may be nearing its end :bluesad:
I cut my grass on Saturday..... :wink:
Quote from: Trevor on December 06, 2011, 06:44:47 AM
I cut my grass on Saturday..... :wink:
Darn you in the Southern Hemisphere! When is it our turn in the sun?
We did pick a number of carrots on Sunday for Katie to use with a roast she made. The carrots, lettuce, spinach, and beets are all still alive and kicking. Some of the carrots were short (7" long) but fat (over 2.5" in thickness at the top).