Time for the annual gardening thread

[Jack]

I planted our garden yesterday.  This year we've got leeks (wife mistakenly bought them instead of onions), spinach (another wife thing - I hate the stuff  ), carrots, bush beans and pole beans, peas, two kinds of lettuce, two kinds of peppers, and various herbs.  The chives from last year were coming up all over the garden.  I sort of dug them up because we've got some in a small planter and that should be more than enough for our needs.  Haven't bought any tomatoes yet, we'll wait a while for those.  Now it's just time to water everything and wait for my little green buds to start bursting from the ground    This year I'm going to put up a couple of posts with chicken wire between them for the peas to climb on - every year I give them tomato cages to climb on, every year they get way too tall, every year they tip over into a huge mass of leaves and peas. 

How 'bout you guys and gals?

[Mr. DS]

Is it that time again?     Nothing in the ground yet, the land won't be ready until mid May.  That is hoping the land dries in time thanks to all the flooding.  Luckily this year I'm working with an apprentice and we've opted to share it 50/50.  The guy is going to be the godfather of our child and always wanted to do a garden.  I figure since I'll be busy with kids, his help will be more than appreciated.  Plans are the usual, tomatoes, squash, cucumbers and beans.   I will have to do a hot pepper crop this year for drying.  Habeneros or Scotch Bonnets. 

[Andrew]

We planted a pair of pear trees and a pair of plum trees this spring, along with 4 blueberry bushes and a strawberry patch.  I've been growing a bunch of tomatoes and pepper plants from seed - they are ready to go into the garden.  It's a little early to plant them though, because we usually get some frost during April and early May.

We also have a spot of cilantro that came out big time in the herb garden.  That's been getting added to some of our meals.

[Vik]

I just mowed my lawns 

[claws]

We have one plumb and one cherry tree, raspberries, gooseberries and chives. All we have to do is reap 
We don't actually have a garden, it's mostly lawn, around our house. The berries and chives grow at our fence.

[Ed, Ego and Superego]

I put in strawberies, tomatoes, kohlrabi, peas, carrots, parsnips, squash, andzuchini.  Later will be corn, melons, pumpkins, radishes, and bell peppers.  We went really big this year
-Ed

[Paquita]

This year I went to the Home Depot and spent about $75 on gardening stuff.  I started all these seeds in one of those Jiffy seed starting thingys and they were all doing really well.. and then my uncle announced that he will be tearing apart and rebuilding our porch this spring .   I have a pumpkin growing nicely in a Dixie cup.. how long do you think that will last?  I'm just going to start planting stuff in my neighbors lawns when they're not looking.

[Ed, Ego and Superego]

You will need a bigger Dixie cup.

[Mr. DS]

You will need a bigger Dixie cup.

Yep, pumpkin vines stretch for yards once they get going.  Had a "suprise" crop last year.  I had thrown an old pumpkin out back and well, the seeds ran that spring. 

[Silverlady]

I don't do vegetables ... but I do flowers.  This year was the first time I  did some winter sowing. Started my seeds at the end of January and just plopped the containers outside to deal with the elements. The winter sown stuff had done great so far. Right now I have sprouted containers of snapdragons, coneflowers, california poppies, oriental poppies, bachelor buttons, and baby's breath on a table on my deck.  They are in various types of containers ... chinese takeout, plastic cake containers, containers that roasted chickens come in, gallon milk jugs, whatever I had salvaged. I'm starting to get them into the ground.

I also did a small amount of seed containers inside, too. They have been under 2 grow lights in my kitchen since mid February. Growing are snapdragons, dianthus, and some coneflowers. I have been putting these outside now for 5-6 hours a day to start hardening them off. Have to do this about 2 weeks or so. This is a pain in the ass! I have to put them in the shade, move them into the sun, and have to bring them back into the house at night if the temp is supposed to dip below freezing. Eventually they are supposed to stay out all day and all night.  Winter sowing is [i]so much easier[/i]!

[Mr. DS]

I worked a small patch of land in the back yard and chucked a chopped up spaghetti squash.  I'm sure it will do well although I'm predicting them to run under the clothesline.  I'm sure my wife will step on them. 

[Jack]

Our lettuce, spinach and peas are poking their heads above ground.  Also planted some tomatoes today.  Picked some rhubarb a while back and made rhubarb crisp - mmmmm.  Those stupid chives from last year, the ones I dug up and buried, are coming up all over the place    They cannot be killed!

[Newt]

It has been an unusually mild spring here, but I don't trust it so we will be planting in a couple of weeks. Right now we are getting the plot prepared for tilling by applying a good layer of manure.

Meanwhile, the pear, cherry and apple buds are swelling, we have been harvesting asparagus for two weeks and the strawberries are already setting fruit!

[Silverlady]

I had direct sowed poppy seeds a few weeks ago and tiny seedlings are "popping" up all over!   

[Andrew]

We put our garden in yesterday.  Now I'm going to hope we don't get a really late frost like last year.  Took a bad toll on our tomatoes and peppers.

Peppers:  red bell, blushing beauty
Tomatoes:  lemon boy, sweet cluster, sugar snack, sweet gold
Zuchinni
Yellow Squash
Pole Beans
Cucumbers
Beets
Carrots
Spinach
Romaine Lettuce

Sunflowers (for Jenna).

The kids love planting the garden, especially putting the eggs into the holes for the tomatoes and breaking them.