# Garden reports where you at and whats next?



## smokinj

I got all my chicken compost on yesterday 15 wagon loads (17 cu ft trailer) Ran the aerator over it a few times to make it even. Its looking good. Bluberry's rasberry's apple trees all going in next Sunday. Thinking of taking a shot with broccoli, SPINACH, and greens to. Spring got to hit soon.


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## Augie

Frozen Ground in SE MIchigan...... Nothing going on outside here for another couple of weeks based on the weather. Greenhouse is even a little chilly still. But Tomatoes are germinating inside along with Lettuce and Kale in the Greenhouse


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## billb3

I've got some lettuce, peppers and tomatoes started but my sister manages a bulk greenhouse so I really only need to start anything she doesn't which lately has been just yellow plum tomatoes. Anything popular at Lowes or Home Depot she's got.


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## SmokeyTheBear

Need to rent a jack hammer here still.


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## smokinj

Its still pretty cold here but I "got a guy" with lots of straw. Garden very lose so the spring crops I think it will be ok.


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## PapaDave

Still a bunch of snow and ice here.
Good on ya SJ for getting started on it.


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## smokinj

PapaDave said:


> Still a bunch of snow and ice here.
> Good on ya SJ for getting started on it.


 
We got ice and some snow last night didnt stick though. Iam only going to do maybe 50ft of spring crops a week for the next three weeks. Its a gamble but I have 40 bails of straw to much with.


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## muncybob

I was hoping to start my gaden this week but Mother nature has other ideas. Maybe next week? Darned grounghog got it wrong again!!


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## Bocefus78

This year I'm going about it differently. No more starting from seeds. I got a nursery dealers license so I'm buying plants at wholesale prices this year. My garden sits in a low spot, so I couldnt even till it if I wanted to right now.

Smokin, where u getting your apple trees at? I bet I can save you some $$$. What varities?


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## smokinj

muncybob said:


> I was hoping to start my gaden this week but Mother nature has other ideas. Maybe next week? Darned grounghog got it wrong again!!


 
I think there was a few days of 80 last year here in March. I thinking once its here it will stay. Going to roll the nice, I think our high yesterday was 36 degrees.


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## smokinj

Bocefus78 said:


> This year I'm going about it differently. No more starting from seeds. I got a nursery dealers license so I'm buying plants at wholesale prices this year. My garden sits in a low spot, so I couldnt even till it if I wanted to right now.
> 
> Smokin, where u getting your apple trees at? I bet I can save you some $$$. What varities?


 

I am buying 2 year old sapling off ebay. I will have 20 total after these are put in. I think I may have a bag advantage. 40 bails of straw was put on the garden as much last summer. It just now got work in on Sunday. Oh and 15 loads of chix crap mulch to.


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## muncybob

smokinj said:


> I think there was a few days of 80 last year here in March. I thinking once its here it will stay. Going to roll the nice, I think our high yesterday was 36 degrees.


 
I remember last March, enjoyed it but it playd havoc on the fruit trees and the bees. Hoping for a much more "normal" spring this year.
That's gonna be some good dirt!


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## lukem

Garden is a swamp.  No shot at working the soil for a while.  Would like to get some greens going but that's going to have to wait.  I'm hoping in two weeks I'll be able to get the tiller in there and get the rabbit food growing.

Peppers, tomatoes, broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, and eggplant started in trays a few weeks ago.  Will probably transplant out of them into dixie cups in a couple weeks.

You're soil is going to be HOT with that much chicken chit in it.  A little of that stuff goes a looong way.  Careful you don't burn your plants up with all that nitrogen.


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## smokinj

lukem said:


> Garden is a swamp. No shot at working the soil for a while. Would like to get some greens going but that's going to have to wait. I'm hoping in two weeks I'll be able to get the tiller in there and get the rabbit food growing.
> 
> Peppers, tomatoes, broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, and eggplant started in trays a few weeks ago. Will probably transplant out of them into dixie cups in a couple weeks.
> 
> You're soil is going to be HOT with that much chicken chit in it. A little of that stuff goes a looong way. Careful you don't burn your plants up with all that nitrogen.


 
I think it should be good the top was still straw but once you got under it, it was black. If I didnt have 6 inch of sand in there I would swear it was pete moss. (there is about 10 loads of that) the other 5 loads is from the composter its self. Its a year older but in no way done as well as that in the coop. I think the chixs keep stir pretty well. Garden is 100 x 40.


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## nate379

-5* this morning, don't think the garden is happening anytime soon!  Have easily a month till the ground is thawed out.


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## Jags

My garden is still way too white and hard to be working in it.


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## smokinj

Jags said:


> My garden is still way too white and hard to be working in it.


 
You still have snow on the ground? I think your only a couple hrs away.


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## Jags

Just got another 1.5" This morning.  Piles all along my driveway and the ground is so hard my backhoe cannot penetrate it.


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## Jags

smokinj said:


> You still have snow on the ground? I think your only a couple hrs away.


 
You are almost straight across from Springfild, IL.  That is darn near tropical compared to the state line (IL/WI).  I am technically North of Chicago, but in the middle going E-W.


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## smokinj

Jags said:


> You are almost straight across from Springfild, IL. That is darn near tropical compared to the state line (IL/WI). I am technically North of Chicago, but in the middle going E-W.


 
If I am in the tropic I will never head north!  lol


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## Jags

smokinj said:


> If I am in the tropic I will never head north! lol


 
I am farther north than some parts of Canada.


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## SmokeyTheBear

After the ground thaws up this way you have to wait for the swamp to drain a bit, along about mid April for first planting.


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## Backwoods Savage

smokinj said:


> I got all my chicken compost on yesterday 15 wagon loads (17 cu ft trailer) Ran the aerator over it a few times to make it even. Its looking good. Bluberry's rasberry's apple trees all going in next Sunday. Thinking of taking a shot with broccoli, SPINACH, and greens to. Spring got to hit soon.


 
Jay, I hope you spread that stuff thin. Chicken manure is really hot stuff!


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## SmokeyTheBear

Folks, composted chicken poop isn't a problem.  It is the raw stuff that is.


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## save$

Used chicken manure,  well composted,  when I had a relative who had a farm was very generous at clean out time.  It was mixed with sawdust which was used on the floor of his commercial chicken business.   Un composted sawdust should never be mixed in the soil as it will bind with the nitrogen keeping it from your plants.  Once the sawdust has composted, the nitrogen is released back into the soil and is available  for your plants.


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## jeromehdmc

I've got several types of tomatoes starting to come up in trays. I planted Mountain Fresh Plus and Better Boy hybrids and Rutgers, Arkansas Traveler and one other heirloom. Also planted jalapeno and peperoncini peppers they haven't came up yet. I'll probably start some other stuff soon, just have to figure out what I want.


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## Jags

smokinj said:


> If I am in the tropic I will never head north! lol


 
Woke up to 15F with a windchill of -5F. Going back down to 11F tonight.  Not even thinking about a garden yet.


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## smokinj

Backwoods Savage said:


> Jay, I hope you spread that stuff thin. Chicken manure is really hot stuff!


 
4000 sq ft I probally got 255 cu ft in an area that is 4000 sq ft. I am dont great at math by know means but that still sounds very low to me. Only the top couple inchs in the coop was not yet turn to a heavy black much. Iam kinda think its short.


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## smokinj

Jags said:


> Woke up to 15F with a windchill of -5F. Going back down to 11F tonight. Not even thinking about a garden yet.


 
My its darn cold here to the winds are full blast......I really think once it turns it will be here to stay. This is perfect weather for the apples.


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## PapaDave

I think my new plan is to get as many raised beds made as possible while the ground is frozen and there's snow on the ground, then move to the garden later.
Haven't done tomatoes in so long, I've forgotten how big they can get in 2 months.
Anybody wanna' give me a heads up on that?


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## smokinj

PapaDave said:


> I think my new plan is to get as many raised beds made as possible while the ground is frozen and there's snow on the ground, then move to the garden later.
> Haven't done tomatoes in so long, I've forgotten how big they can get in 2 months.
> Anybody wanna' give me a heads up on that?


 
Yea plant less...... Mine turn out to be monster plants last year. We waisted alot even giving them to the chix's.


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## PapaDave

I planted 8 one year many moons ago, and got so many I had to give 'em away. That was AFTER canning a bunch.
I was actually looking for info on how big they'll be after a couple months if I start 'em inside.


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## save$

depends,  determinent plants usually have less space. interterninent are vines and need support untill frost or desease ends their growing season.   at least 3ft. better with 4 between plants.  most do better with support.  feed them until you don't care to get more fruit.  you can grow them on twine if you prune them to only one leader. you get fewer tomatoes, but the ones you do get are often huge.  water them from the bottom.


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## PapaDave

Thanks save$. I just looked at the pack I have (yellow pear, indeterminate) and it tells me approx. when to plant....DOH!
Never started tomatoes from seed, but I should have known.
Last plants I had crapped out because I couldn't keep them watered well enough. The garden has a ton of sand (as does every other part of N. Mich.), so I'm doing raised beds.
Plan to amend with compost and feed as needed.


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## save$

I do recommend starting them inside. Start at least 6 to 8 wks from your normal last frost free date. For us, that is Memorial and has been that way for as long as I can remember. If you can build cold frame out of an old window sash, or make a hoop house, you can start even earlier. You can use plastic PVC made for wire conduit, to make hoops for your raised beds. Just bend them over and secure to the sides of your raised beds. , cover with cheap plastic. Just don’t forget to open an end as it gets very hot in them even on cold days. Fill some containers with water and keep them inside the hoop area. That will give back heat at night. Tomatoes need to be kept warm and have a lot of light. Those raised on a window sill are often weak and spindly. If yours get tall, just lay them in a trench with the root ball facing south and cover the stem up to the last two rows of leaves. That whole stem will grow root and feed you plant. Facing south is for the warmth. Don't mulch your tomatoes until you are sure your ground has warmed up. I have used black ground cover to warm the soil and to prevent splash up on your plants, (splash is often the source of disease on tomatoes) You can grow tomatoes in containers, move them in and out until the nights run at least 50 F. Last year, I had several in pots, I had to keep transplanting them. Some ended up in 5 gallon buckets in the hoop house. I had tomatoes in early June! My main crop was planted in the unheated solar space on the 26th of April. By the end of May, they were a foot high with thick stems and lush green growth. 

Those yellow pear tomatoes are very small, you will get hundreds from one plant. They are too small for slicing. You might want to call the local extension service. They will tell you some of the most dependable tomato varieties for your area. Determinant plants are mostly used by those in short season areas, or for commercial picking where they do once over picking and trash the plants. If you end up buying plants, please avoid any that were not seeded by the place your are buying them. Imported tomatoes= imported disease that can spread to all your other plants.


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## PapaDave

Wow save$, tons of great info. Thank you.
The yellow pear seed are a bit old, so I may be lucky to get a couple plants. They sound good.
I have a couple of old patio doors that I've been saving to make cold frames. This may be the year, but they're real heavy, so I may rethink that.
County extension office is also a good idea.


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## lukem

PapaDave said:


> I planted 8 one year many moons ago, and got so many I had to give 'em away. That was AFTER canning a bunch.
> I was actually looking for info on how big they'll be after a couple months if I start 'em inside.


Bah....I planted thirty something plants last year.  Go big.


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## save$

PapaDave said:


> Wow save$, tons of great info. Thank you.
> The yellow pear seed are a bit old, so I may be lucky to get a couple plants. They sound good.
> I have a couple of old patio doors that I've been saving to make cold frames. This may be the year, but they're real heavy, so I may rethink that.
> County extension office is also a good idea.


If you have access to the old fashioned bailed hay, you can get that cheap as mulch hay (spoiled).  Lay the bails out in the shape of those patio doors. Lay them on top of the hay.   Instant cold frame.   Wet the hay and it will help heat the cold frame. Later on you put the doors away and use the hay for mulch.   If the doors are too heavy, take the glass out and just use that.   Door glass is usually tempered glass.  A little heavier and doesn't brake so easy.  Besides, your cold frame doesn't need double pane insulated glass.


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## smokinj

lukem said:


> Bah....I planted thirty something plants last year. Go big.


 

I had 4 rows of 40ft per row. We canned well over 100qts and dehydrated another 10quts of powder. I have to scale back on them. Corn will be 500 ft or so this year.
Now we got 6-8 inchs of snow coming Sun.-Mon Better grab the snow tiller.


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## basod

Dropped in a couple rows of potatoes last week more of test to see if they'll grow on the ridge.

I'll start my squash and pumpkin seeds this week.
Nothing going in the ground until the second week of April, had too many years of spring fever foiled by Easter frost


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## lukem

Hit a bit of a dry/windy spell this week. Hoping I can get a lettuce patch tilled Saturday before the snow flies!

Watched the local weather yesterday.  One year ago we had a record high of 82...yesterday was 34.  What a difference a year makes.


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## lukem

Got all the rabbit food planted this morning.


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## jrendfrey

Still got 2+ ft of snow on the ground


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## smokinj

First till at 3/4 full depth. 40 bales of straw and 230 cubic foot of chix compost on 4000 sq ft.


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## EatenByLimestone

My silver maple out front just popped it's flowers and the tulips are starting to come up.  I think I'm going to try to get the cold weather stuff in this week.  

Matt


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## billb3

Planted peas, carrots, beets and string beans today.
Might be a bit early for string beans but I've got some of that white row cloth that might help if it cools off again.


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## smokinj

billb3 said:


> Planted peas, carrots, beets and string beans today.
> Might be a bit early for string beans but I've got some of that white row cloth that might help if it cools off again.


 

I going to plant a 3 rows of cool crops Tuesday. If it gets bad I have enough straw to put down. It may be a gamble but an educated one.


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## lukem

You're gonna have wheat sprouting soon...be ready to till it again before you get too much planted.

Taters and onions going in the ground this week.


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## smokinj

lukem said:


> You're gonna have wheat sprouting soon...be ready to till it again before you get too much planted.
> 
> Taters and onions going in the ground this week.


 
It will get till full depth but just in the rows I plant. I am ok with wheat but there it will be much less than you might think. The guy I get my straw from has a 2012 john deer mack daddy combine and its not leaving money behind.


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## billb3

If it's straw and not hay there should not be much seed in it if at all.
Straw is like 8 bucks for half a bale here. I don't use straw.


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## smokinj

billb3 said:


> If it's straw and not hay there should not be much seed in it if at all.
> Straw is like 8 bucks for half a bale here. I don't use straw.


 
Yes its straw and your right. Last winter I put 50 lbs of winter wheat on it after tilling and that's 12 lbs per 1000 sq ft. Didn't have a problem then either. Wheats a good problem.


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## lukem

smokinj said:


> The guy I get my straw from has a 2012 john deer mack daddy combine and its not leaving money behind.


 
Good deal, but with that many bales in that small of an area (1 bale for every 10 sq ft) you're gonna get some wheat come up.


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## Jags

A Pick axe couldn't break ground at my place.  Woke up to 28F.  Garden thinking isn't eve a blip on the radar yet.


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## lukem

Jags said:


> A Pick axe couldn't break ground at my place. Woke up to 28F. Garden thinking isn't eve a blip on the radar yet.


 
You've got a backhoe...get after it!


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## Adios Pantalones

Part of my garden is bare ground, the other part has almost a foot of snow on it.


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## smokinj

Jags said:


> A Pick axe couldn't break ground at my place. Woke up to 28F. Garden thinking isn't eve a blip on the radar yet.


 


Jags said:


> A Pick axe couldn't break ground at my place. Woke up to 28F. Garden thinking isn't eve a blip on the radar yet.


 
26 here as a low, same again for tonight. Its the straw.


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## smokinj

Adios Pantalones said:


> Part of my garden is bare ground, the other part has almost a foot of snow on it.


 
I had 10 inchs on it last Monday.


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## Jags

smokinj said:


> Its the straw.


 
Hmmmm.....


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## Adios Pantalones

I have very long shadows out there right now, but its warm enough in the day that I should lose it all soon. What are the best really early crops to plant?


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## lukem

Adios Pantalones said:


> I have very long shadows out there right now, but its warm enough in the day that I should lose it all soon. What are the best really early crops to plant?


 
Rabbit food. Lettuce, spinach, snow peas, turnips, radishes, kohlrabi, etc. Taters and onions should go in pretty early too.


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## smokinj

Adios Pantalones said:


> I have very long shadows out there right now, but its warm enough in the day that I should lose it all soon. What are the best really early crops to plant?


 
mustard greens, turnips, cauliflower, broccoli,BRUSSEL SPROUT.


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## lukem

smokinj said:


> mustard greens, turnips, cauliflower, broccoli,BRUSSEL SPROUT.


 
Oh yeah...forgot about broc and cauli.  I started them in trays this year.  Will probably plant them this weekend.

Never done brussels sprouts - I've heard they are a PITA...any truth to that?


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## smokinj

lukem said:


> Oh yeah...forgot about broc and cauli. I started them in trays this year. Will probably plant them this weekend.
> 
> Never done brussels sprouts - I've heard they are a PITA...any truth to that?


 
I am sowing straight into the soil on Tuesday. Brussels sprouts seem just about anything will take them out. Going to give it another shot and plant more and play the percentage. (Oh I started a bunch of Horseradish yesterday to)


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## jharkin

We only have one small stubborn snow pile not melted.  It almost hit 60 on Easter.  The lawn is nice and soggy and bulbs are starting to come up so its time to get going here.

Plan this year is to build a couple raised beds for a kitchen garden behind the house (herbs and such), and re purpose some of the large flower bed area for larger vegetables.   Last year we had been growing herbs behind the garage but if the budget allows that space is getting ripped out for the new patio this summer.

So far all we have got done is to get materials for the beds  -  I was considering getting cedar 2x12s from the lumber yard but those are $$$ and we only have space fora couple small 4x4 size beds so I cheaped out and got prefab cedar bed kits at HD for $40 ea.

The lawn also needs a lot of work - for the garden project I invested in one of those small mantis tillers and ordered the dethatcher attachment to try as the grass needs it desperately.


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## Bocefus78

lukem said:


> Oh yeah...forgot about broc and cauli. I started them in trays this year. Will probably plant them this weekend.
> 
> Never done brussels sprouts - I've heard they are a PITA...any truth to that?


 
I grew B. sprouts last year for the first time....I had no issues. No spray or dust either. I go all natural in the garden other than some lime in the spring. Some bugs liked to munch on the leaves of the plants, but left the sprouts themselves alone.


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## lukem

Bocefus78 said:


> I grew B. sprouts last year for the first time....I had no issues. No spray or dust either. I go all natural in the garden other than some lime in the spring. Some bugs liked to munch on the leaves of the plants, but left the sprouts themselves alone.


 
Cool...I may give them a try next year.  Running out of room as it is...need to add another couple hunnert square feet this fall.


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## begreen

Just picked the last of our winter sprouting broccoli and put in 8 new plants. We have peas, lettuce, potatoes, broccoli, beets and carrots in the ground. Fertilized the asparagus bed yesterday too.

This is a garden salad with all ingredients from the garden or green house. We are just finishing up on last season's tomatoes. This is the latest we've ever gone on tomatoes. These are Early Girls that I planted late in the greehouse.


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## Bret Chase

muncybob said:


> I remember last March, enjoyed it but it playd havoc on the fruit trees and the bees. Hoping for a much more "normal" spring this year.
> That's gonna be some good dirt!


 
my apples and pears did *nothing* last year....  my cherries and shags went crazy though... go figure


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## JustWood

Got one hot house ready yesterday and brought a bucket of dirt in to warm and start maters this weekend. Still in the teens at nite here .


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## Bret Chase

I need to get a couple hot boxes built and get things going....


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## Bocefus78

I actually got the tiller thru the garden for the first pass yesterday. I need to lime it and till it again once it dries out a little more and I will be ready! In lieu of turning my spare bedroom into a greenhouse, for once, I'm buying flats of plants at wholesale $ this year so I dont have any exciting seed starting stories. 
I did get my first lawn fert app down. 19-0-0 with dimension pre-M. Weeds can kiss my a$$!


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## lukem

40 broc plants in....15 cabbage...15 cauliflower... rabbit food all sprouted.  Asparagus starting to poke up.


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## jharkin

I took this week off to start working on the gardens. Last year my wife just grew some hers but this year she wants to start trying veggies, so We took an overgrown section of the large perennial gardens and created a veggie plot.

That was about a days work, transplanting the good plants elsewhere, tilling, adding compost from our massive yard pile, and edging.










Those little fences are just decorative of course. mrs wanted it to look pretty.  When it was done we took a look and thought it looked like a burial plot from an old western     (we are hoping not to have to put a full chicken wire fence around this)


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## jharkin

Also putting in a couple cheapie raised beds behind the kitchen, for herbs and such.


(dont report me for the child labor violation  )


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## jharkin

And we built the kids their own garden and play area in another section of the back gardens.


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## jharkin

We decided the Tombstone plot had to go. I moved the raised beds to our big garden area and we are going to add more sections to make a couple of 4x8s.






Also spread 10 yards of mulch and woodchips and re edged all our rock gardens. We have toooooooo many rocks.







The kids garden is a big hit.






After spreading 10 yards of chips and mulch this week I question why I bought a house with so many flower beds!!


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## osagebow

Our 10 year old summer rambo apple tree was covered in blooms and bees today. Has 3 other varieties grafted onto it, but main trunk was damaged by a bear, so it may decline. I  have added  a 3 year old johnathan, 2 year old gold rush  and 1 year old Albermarle pippin this year, and have three 1 year rootstock trees that grafting failed miserably on. Also tried to add to the johnathan with no success. 

Chard, lettuce  and peas coming up, garlic is 6" tall.  Happy hoe'in, all.


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## jebatty

Snow peas ready to harvest, grew a foot of white stuff on the ground yesterday, now about 2 feet thick and more growth in the forecast. Also, iceberg lettuce is doing great, planted on first ice last December, and the icebergs are still a good two feet thick and well insulated by more than a foot of snow peas growing on top. Chilli peppers couldn't be better. Temps keeping well below freezing at night insures plenty of chill in those peppers. I LOVE gardening.


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## jharkin

Finally finished the raised beds. I lost track of everything that Catherine planted but I know so far it includes a few different varieties of lettuce, brussels sprouts, carrots, green beans, various herbs (oregano, basil, thyme).  Still planning to start tomatoes and a bunch more.


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## nate379

Still have 6-8" of snow here!


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## basod

Got all the tomatoes, pepper, squash, cucumber seedlings in the ground last Monday.
They survived 33F Friday night.
Started a second tray of butternut squash, and a pile of sunflowers (for the GF) seems something thought the seed husk covered shoots were food and ripped out or snipped about half a tray

We'll see if the cantaloupe and pumpkins I put down on the power line suffer the same fate


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## Adios Pantalones

Finally planted stuff. lettuce, spinach, carrots, beets, radish. Garlic is kickin butt, as usual


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## basod

Found my culprit - well at least ID'd it.
The same critter that stole a bunch of my jalepenos last season had taken up residence in my truck. Found a bunch of dried ones under the seat
Sucker stole everything - glovebox was empty no registration/insurance etc.  The thing must be doing night shift recon on the bird feeders because I scraped ~10lbs of sunflower seed from under the seat and in the heater box.  Found wilting succulent shoots off the cucumbers under the seat.

War is on!!
See if the bugger likes pistachios - stuffed in these new fangled plastic rat traps


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## begreen

Some of the new traps work very well. But word, wire the sucker down. I have had full traps disappear, probably on the end of some rat's tail.


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## basod

begreen said:


> Some of the new traps work very well. But word, wire the sucker down. I have had full traps disappear, probably on the end of some rat's tail.


Yes they are positively secured - should they chew through the wire(which they have eaten through 3 spark plug wires)
Billy Bob will  is standing at the ready - hasn't left the bottom of the cab since I got back from a mulch run this afternoon


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## billb3

I planted  carrots, beets, string beans, peas, peas and spinach March 31
The short snow peas started popping up a week ago and the tall snap peas and spinach are starting to show.


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## lukem

Tomatoes are ready to go in the ground, not sure if the ground is ready for the tomatoes though.  According to the Purdue calendar it is, but there's a frost warning for tonight.


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## begreen

basod said:


> Yes they are positively secured - should they chew through the wire(which they have eaten through 3 spark plug wires)
> Billy Bob will is standing at the ready - hasn't left the bottom of the cab since I got back from a mulch run this afternoon


 
I use light-duty baling wire. They are not going to chew through that. I haven't lost a trap yet since doing this.


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## PapaDave

Planning to put together at least one more raised bed this week and get a load of topsoil delivered.
I'll have a garden this year, even if it kills me.
Green beans (blue lake bush) started in the house about a week ago. Local nurseries are starting to open up.
I've turned over the soil in the first bed twice, but only got down about 4" the first time. It was frozen below that.
Overnight temps are still down in the mid 30's at times.


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## NW Walker

begreen said:


> Some of the new traps work very well. But word, wire the sucker down. I have had full traps disappear, probably on the end of some rat's tail.


Do you by chance have a recommendation for a decent live trap?  My garden has been plagued with voles ever since I tried Straw mulch a few years ago.  I had to move the carrots and potatoes out to a new spot, it got so bad.


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## lukem

Tomatoes went in the ground last night.  After thinking about it I pulled some pictures from last year and realized that we planted way too many so some of them are coming back out tonight.  Peppers go in tonight.


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## Adios Pantalones

lukem said:


> Tomatoes went in the ground last night. After thinking about it I pulled some pictures from last year and realized that we planted way too many so some of them are coming back out tonight. Peppers go in tonight.


Wow- you guys can plant early! If I planted peppers/toms now, they would get purple leaves and sulk for weeks (they seem to do that if the temp gets to the low 40's). Quite possible for us to have several frosts, as well.


----------



## lukem

Adios Pantalones said:


> Wow- you guys can plant early! If I planted peppers/toms now, they would get purple leaves and sulk for weeks (they seem to do that if the temp gets to the low 40's). Quite possible for us to have several frosts, as well.


 
I think we have a couple nights forecasted in the upper 40's at the end of the week, but the plants are more than ready.  It is either put them in the ground or transplant them to pots (already transplanted out of trays into dixie cups once).  Not ideal, but they need to get in the ground or they'll start heading  downhill.


----------



## Backwoods Savage

Thought maybe it was time I chimed in. We still haven't even planted peas. Even though we live on yellow sand, the ground is still too wet. Believe it or not, we have standing water in one of the gardens. We planted some new fruit trees which was a challenge in the mud. Strawberries came so we just sort of heeled them in until we can work up the ground a bit. Going to be some late planting around here.


----------



## blacktail

I planted peas, spinach, kale, carrots, radishes, and broccoli a week ago. Nothing poking up yet.
Today I planted cherry tomato starts in pots. I put them by the back door because temps are supposed to be in the 30's the next couple of nights.


----------



## jebatty

Rain/snow mix in the forecast for the next 5 days, night temps in the high 20's. Summer forecast is for July 20-22, then back to fall/winter. Life is good.


----------



## DevilsBrew

At the moment I have 13 types of tomatoes, 8 types of peppers, 3 types of eggplants, strawberries, lettuce, onions, garlic, shallots, blueberry seedlings, new zealand spinach, and herbs.


----------



## WellSeasoned

We will be waiting to plant the seedlings until mothers day weekend this year. We still have spotty frost at night, at least last week we did, anyway, we have a simple 16'x16' raised garden, with a weed or two growing in there. After we add some soil, compost, and mushroom soil, we plan to raise sweet corn, tomatoes, cucumber, loads of different peppers, string beans, lettuce, onions, carrots, and firewood.


----------



## SolarAndWood

I'm a little ahead of the game this year.  Got 20 yards of compost on and had the seed beds prepped the first week of April.  Mulched the walkways before the weeds came up.  Garlic and onions doing well, strawberries are blooming, potatoes, peas and carrots are coming along.  Been eating asparagus for a couple weeks now and have the broccoli and collards in on time.  Now just have to get off my ash and get my fence project done in time for tomatoes, cukes and corn.


----------



## lukem

Everything is planted except corn, sweet taters, and melons.  Had to make the garden bigger this year for those so I'm still working the soil where I had to bust some sod.  I hope to get that done the next couple evenings before the rain starts again later this week.


----------



## Adios Pantalones

So glad I didn't plant tomatoes/peppers etc. Temps in the 30's here would cause serious depression in seedlings


----------



## Jags

I just planted last night.  Two nights ago was a fairly heavy frost.


----------



## Adios Pantalones

Jags said:


> I just planted last night. Two nights ago was a fairly heavy frost.


We're getting 30's a couple more nights this week. Peppers and tomatoes would turn purple and just sulk for weeks. I actually end up AHEAD by waiting. I am jealous- a planted garden, like a drying stack of wood, is money in the bank.


----------



## lukem

My tomatoes are a bit purplish right now, but should snap back pretty quick this week with the heat wave we're forecasted to get.  They did the same thing last year.


----------



## semipro

Planted on Sunday, freeze on Monday....dang it.
Raided every last drinking glass and storage container to cover the seedlings last night.
Looked pretty funny, should have taken a photo afterwards. 
Photo below from the weekend.


----------



## PapaDave

Called a local guy for some topsoil and got a quote for $18.50/cu.yd., then came the kicker.
$75 for delivery. I'm 1.5 miles from 'em. Jeesh
I bought bags.


----------



## Adios Pantalones

PapaDave said:


> Called a local guy for some topsoil and got a quote for $18.50/cu.yd., then came the kicker.
> $75 for delivery. I'm 1.5 miles from 'em. Jeesh
> I bought bags.


Lasagna garden it.


----------



## PapaDave

I can get bags at virtually the same price. Each raised bed takes just a bit less than a yard (unless I make 'em taller).
I've been taking mom to her Dr. appt's weekly, so I pick up 10-15 bags each trip.
The whole idea is to get better control of the weeds and reduce bending. I put down multi layers of newspaper under the frame, then load the TS. I'll do the walk ways the same with newspaper and straw. Long process for me.
Thing is, is the garden is full of goat, sheep, and chicken crap from a couple years ago. The weeds love it.
I may put the tomatoes and green beans in this week or next, although it's probably still too early.
Broccoli and lettuce can go in this week.


----------



## Adios Pantalones

PapaDave said:


> I can get bags at virtually the same price. Each raised bed takes just a bit less than a yard (unless I make 'em taller).
> I've been taking mom to her Dr. appt's weekly, so I pick up 10-15 bags each trip.
> The whole idea is to get better control of the weeds and reduce bending. I put down multi layers of newspaper under the frame, then load the TS. I'll do the walk ways the same with newspaper and straw. Long process for me.
> Thing is, is the garden is full of goat, sheep, and chicken crap from a couple years ago. The weeds love it.
> I may put the tomatoes and green beans in this week or next, although it's probably still too early.


Lasagna garden is free. Just layer compostables over paper/cardboard. (well free, if you have leaves, etc).


----------



## Jags

Question on that.  I used grass clippings between my 'mater plants.  Should I have put newspaper down first?  It is a fairly thick layer and I have an endless supply.


----------



## Adios Pantalones

Jags said:


> Question on that. I used grass clippings between my 'mater plants. Should I have put newspaper down first? It is a fairly thick layer and I have an endless supply.


You don't have to if just using it as a mulch of sorts. For a lasagna garden- take any patch of dirt and weeds, layer up compostables several inches thick (make sure you have yer greens and browns) over several sheets newspaper or some cardboard. Plant in a small soil pocket. It smothers the weeds, the compostables break down in place, and worms do the tilling. I use 1/2 finished compost for much of it, though I haven't started a new bed in years (I may expand this year).

Less weeding, watering, etc. Tilling is for suckers


----------



## semipro

Jags said:


> Question on that. I used grass clippings between my 'mater plants. Should I have put newspaper down first? It is a fairly thick layer and I have an endless supply.


I've done the clippings with and without the newspaper.  I prefer without.


----------



## PapaDave

I'm starting to think tilling just makes the weeds happy.


----------



## Jags

Adios Pantalones said:


> Less weeding, watering, etc. Tilling is for suckers


 
I will have you know that this is the first year that I will not be tilling my garden.  Its your fault (good or bad).  I just hope I can get my onions and radishes out of that dirt when time comes.  I will let you know if you deserve a hug or if I send DeltaT over to your house for a month or two.


----------



## Adios Pantalones

PapaDave said:


> I'm starting to think tilling just makes the weeds happy.


Tilling is entirely necessary if you really hate worms


----------



## Adios Pantalones

Jags said:


> I will have you know that this is the first year that I will not be tilling my garden. Its your fault (good or bad). I just hope I can get my onions and radishes out of that dirt when time comes. I will let you know if you deserve a hug or if I send DeltaT over to your house for a month or two.


If the soil is loose and you keep it mulched up well with compostables, you will wonder why you went through the effort. Or, you'll put out a hit on me.


----------



## Jags

The dirt around here is truly "black dirt".  Its black.  Really black ( I should take pics for all you non-midwesterners).  The stuff can get hard if dry.  I may have to water heavily before trying to pull onions and radishes.
Loose is not a term I would use to describe it.  No sand, no rocks, no clay, just black dirt (thank you Wisconsin and Canada).


----------



## Delta-T

I have most of my elaborate potted garden in place (townhouse...no "yard"). Most pots larger that 12". We have pole beans, green onion (scallion to some), carrots (the little ball shaped guys, cute and don't need so much dirt), cuccumbers, and cantaloupes. We have returning from previous plantings: strawberries, blueberries, and the assortment of herbs (thyme,rosemary,chives,garlic chives,basil,black basil,lavender,catmint,catnip). Still to come are the tomatoes,peppers, and I am attempting Thai Peppers (still indoors on windowsill). Had to cover everyone last nite...brought in the basil. I'm only really worried about the cantaloupe. I too am glad I waited on tomato and peppers. I planted bunches of flowers (columbines,painted daisy,lupines, russian sunflowers and something else I can't remember) cuz my wife says it all looks to "vegetably"....weird, cuz I think cantaloupe is a fruit.


----------



## Jags

^^^ He's like Beetlejuice...say his name three times and he pops up.


----------



## Augie

Wheel on Tires need cleaning and headlights still weren't in when I took this last week.


----------



## Jags

Augie said:


> Wheel on Tires need cleaning and headlights still weren't in when I took this last week.


 
You planting a garden in it???


----------



## PapaDave

Earth to Augie....come in Augie.
Is that your new greenhouse?


----------



## Adios Pantalones

Leave the windows up- it's a greenhouse. I used to put wooden staves in my car in the work parking lot to dry them out (for making bows). Come back and all the windows were fogged up. Called it the car kiln


----------



## Delta-T

i think maybe he grew it...pretty impressive so early in the season.


----------



## lukem

Jags said:


> The dirt around here is truly "black dirt". Its black. Really black ( I should take pics for all you non-midwesterners). The stuff can get hard if dry. I may have to water heavily before trying to pull onions and radishes.
> Loose is not a term I would use to describe it. No sand, no rocks, no clay, just black dirt (thank you Wisconsin and Canada).


 
I've got the same stuff here.  As fluffy and nutrient rich as it gets when there's some moisture to it...then it turns to concrete when dry.  Farmers have to rip corn fields about the middle of June so when it rains the water soaks in and doesn't just run off.  I'm considering going no-till and "leafing" and "grass clipping" the garden into submission.  I have enough yard that I could have the garden a foot deep in grass clippings in a couple weeks.


----------



## Jags

lukem said:


> I have enough yard that I could have the garden a foot deep in grass clippings in a couple weeks.


 
I could make that happen...tonight.


----------



## Adios Pantalones

Super levels of organic matter should fluff that up for you, I'd think. My soil is so loose that everything has to be staked/caged (I use the Florida Weave) to keep it upright. Haven't used a shovel/fork in years.


----------



## PapaDave

I could plant in last year's compost pile, but the weeds beat me to it.


----------



## lukem

Jags said:


> I could make that happen...tonight.


 
I need a good method to pick them up.  That's the only thing holding me back.  I ain't raking 3 acres .  I'm on a 3 day mowing cycle right now and taking off about 2" of the thickest grass I've ever seen (and I have 4000+ hours of seat time on a ZTR).  The drought last year must have killed the weeds and kicked the grass into overdrive.

Thinking about a lawn sweeper...real hard.


----------



## Jags

lukem said:


> Thinking about a lawn sweeper...real hard.


 
Ding, Ding, Ding.  My preferred method.


----------



## lukem

Jags said:


> Ding, Ding, Ding. My preferred method.


 
Hmm.  Just need to find one that doesn't suck...then let mulching begin.


----------



## semipro

Adios Pantalones said:


> Tilling is entirely necessary if you really hate worms


I stopped tilling three years ago and I can't dig a hole now without finding worms, lots of them.
I just keep adding organics and am perfectly content now to let the worms do the work (not me and fossil fuels).

Edit: AP, funny but until you posted this I never really made the connection between tilling and worms.


----------



## nate379

Still have another month or so before a garden can go in the ground.  Ground is still frozen.


----------



## PapaDave

May be a little early for the maters, but I planted 8 Big Boy plants today. Overkill if they all make it.
Put in a bit of Romaine seeds. Keeping fingers crossed.
Tried to get some old green bean seeds going almost 2 weeks ago. They still hadn't sprouted, so they got dumped. I have new seed, and plan to get those going soon.


----------



## DevilsBrew

Low around 30 tonight.  Covered up the plants.    I have lived here off an on for 30 years and I don't ever remember it being this cold and miserable on Memorial Day weekend.


----------



## PapaDave

Lettuce is coming up as of yesterday. The tomatoes are doing well. We planted several sweet potato plants 3 days ago also.
Had to cover everything (except the lettuce) last evening and tonight, with lows below freezing.


----------



## basod

I should have the first summer squash this week.
Cukes are blooming and a handful have set, also have about 6 infant tomatoes and couple of peppers setting.

Don't feel bad about the cold guys - it was 45F down here this morning


----------



## jharkin

My wife's vegetable beds are doing great. We have already had lots of salad greens and she pulled the first crop of radishes today.  Onions are doing good , carrots coming up and the tomatoes are starting to take off as well.


----------



## begreen

Our beds are doing pretty well too. We already have too much lettuce and have started harvesting broccoli and spinach. Tomatoes, onions, garlic, potatoes, peas, beans and peppers all seem happy. However, the eggplant and cukes would appreciate a bit more warmth. It's supposed to get sunnier toward the end of the week. That will be much appreciated.


----------



## semipro

Its funny how much entertainment I get from my garden.  Growing food seems to really bring home the miracle of "life" to me somehow. 
The first thing I do when I get home from work is a tour of the garden.  It just plain amazes me the differences that occur from one to day to the next.


----------



## lukem

Got enough lettuce and spinach to feed 900 rabbits right now.  Everything else is planted and really starting to take off.  Some of the taters have already bloomed.


----------



## Adios Pantalones

lukem said:


> Got enough lettuce and spinach to feed 900 rabbits right now. Everything else is planted and really starting to take off. Some of the taters have already bloomed.


I'm about to have the same deal. What can you with it all, beside eating as fast as you can?


----------



## begreen

Give excess to friends, neighbors or the local food bank.


----------



## lukem

Adios Pantalones said:


> I'm about to have the same deal. What can you with it all, beside eating as fast as you can?


 

(In best Bubba Blue voice): deys um boiled lettuce, broiled lettuce, grilled lettuce, lettuce soup, lettuce stew, lettuce and potatoes, lettuce sammich...

We just eat a lot of salad, either wilted down (use a lot that way) with a hot homemade vinaigrette, in a southwest salad, or plain old salad.  I'm sure there are folks out there with more culinary savvy than me who use it in other ways.

In about a month we'll be completely sick of it, but that's OK.


----------



## Adios Pantalones

begreen said:


> Give excess to friends, neighbors or the local food bank.


 
I think that our local food bank mostly takes non-perishables, but that would be a great option


----------



## Adios Pantalones

Looks like blanch/bag/freeze is a great way to preserve. Canning would take tens of pounds fresh at once to get a canner load


----------



## lukem

Adios Pantalones said:


> Looks like blanch/bag/freeze is a great way to preserve.


 
Interesting.  If you try it let us know how that works out for you.


----------



## Adios Pantalones

lukem said:


> Interesting. If you try it let us know how that works out for you.


That is for spinach and cookin' greens. I'm guessing it ends up a bit like what you get in a box, except fresher.

Article I read said put servings in separate sammich bags in a big freezer bag.

http://www.simplycanning.com/freezing-spinach.html


----------



## begreen

Spinach cooks quickly and reduces greatly in volume when doing so. We just freeze it after that in ziploc freezer bags.


----------



## PapaDave

We blanched and froze green beans a few times. Works great.
My first batch of GB didn't take (old seed), so got some more today and have a couple other varieties to try too. Built another bed a couple days ago, and will get that set up and GB planted as soon as the rains die down a bit.
I might have to wait for the Amazonian sized skeeters to go home. Ticks seem to be almost non-existent, but the skeeters are _*BAD*_.


----------



## lukem

Don't hate the lack of mulch...I'll get there.


----------



## begreen

I hate the lack of weeds.


----------



## DevilsBrew

semipro said:


> Its funny how much entertainment I get from my garden. Growing food seems to really bring home the miracle of "life" to me somehow.
> The first thing I do when I get home from work is a tour of the garden. It just plain amazes me the differences that occur from one to day to the next.


 
I moved the location of the garden for that very reason.  I think I am going to put a permanent chair up there on the hillside.  It is going to be a great place to sit and chill in the evenings.


----------



## Adios Pantalones

semipro said:


> Its funny how much entertainment I get from my garden. Growing food seems to really bring home the miracle of "life" to me somehow.
> The first thing I do when I get home from work is a tour of the garden. It just plain amazes me the differences that occur from one to day to the next.


I know exactly what you mean. When I'm waiting for my wife to get ready to go out, I start puttering in the garden, and I'm the one that makes us late. Far more entertaining than wherever we were going anyway.

I also look at a tomato seed and think- this will produce a plant that could yield 10-15# of tomatoes. That is just nuts.


----------



## Delta-T

i thinks the seed of the pepper plant, all flat and whafer thin, is also mind boggling. I noticed ants, farming gnats on my strawberries the other day...also a fascinating thing...then I had to squish them. I spread some coffee grounds around the plants, and then some medicated foot powder...they do not appear to like either...still cool though, ants, farming gnats...for guys with tiny little heads and no real brain, they pretty smart.


----------



## semipro

Delta-T said:


> i thinks the seed of the pepper plant, all flat and whafer thin, is also mind boggling. I noticed ants, farming gnats on my strawberries the other day...also a fascinating thing...then I had to squish them. I spread some coffee grounds around the plants, and then some medicated foot powder...they do not appear to like either...still cool though, ants, farming gnats...for guys with tiny little heads and no real brain, they pretty smart.


I've been using some diluted dish soap spray on infested plants and it seems to be working.


----------



## Delta-T

I have used soapy water before, usually mixed with some tomato leaf (later in the season) with good results. When researching the whole "ants farming gnats" thing I ran into the suggestions for coffe grounds or foot powder, I figured I'd combine them and give it a whirl. If they didn't work I planned on going back to soapy water. Funny that something as ubiquitous and non-descript as dish soap would do such a good job.


----------



## Adios Pantalones

Delta-T said:


> I have used soapy water before, usually mixed with some tomato leaf (later in the season) with good results. When researching the whole "ants farming gnats" thing I ran into the suggestions for coffe grounds or foot powder, I figured I'd combine them and give it a whirl. If they didn't work I planned on going back to soapy water. Funny that something as ubiquitous and non-descript as dish soap would do such a good job.


Coffee grounds are a good fertilizer- slow release, builds soil. I use lots.


----------



## semipro

Adios Pantalones said:


> Coffee grounds are a good fertilizer


A great amendment but not particularly acidic as many believe.
http://faq.gardenweb.com/faq/lists/soil/2002015354019975.html


----------



## Adios Pantalones

semipro said:


> A great amendment but not particularly acidic as many believe.
> http://faq.gardenweb.com/faq/lists/soil/2002015354019975.html


Yup. I will add- after composting, even stuff that people consider acidic is neutralized.


----------



## midwestcoast

Since AP mentioned composting, can I bust in here with a compost question? I've composted for many years. Thought I had it down fairly well. I'm a novice gardener though. I put a raised bed in my front yard this year & filled with topsoil, composted cow manure and of course my own compost. Frickin' carpet of squash/cucumber and tomato seedlings from the compost. I'm pulling dozens of tomato volunteers per day, though the squash/cuc's have settled down to a few/day after threatening to take over the place. I plan to mulch with shredded leaves in a couple weeks hoping that with help, but lots of my seedlings are still pretty small so I can't mulch yet.
How can I prevent this next year & still be able to use my compost?


----------



## Adios Pantalones

2





midwestcoast said:


> Since AP mentioned composting, can I bust in here with a compost question? I've composted for many years. Thought I had it down fairly well. I'm a novice gardener though. I put a raised bed in my front yard this year & filled with topsoil, composted cow manure and of course my own compost. Frickin' carpet of squash/cucumber and tomato seedlings from the compost. I'm pulling dozens of tomato volunteers per day, though the squash/cuc's have settled down to a few/day after threatening to take over the place. I plan to mulch with shredded leaves in a couple weeks hoping that with help, but lots of my seedlings are still pretty small so I can't mulch yet.
> How can I prevent this next year & still be able to use my compost?



Two ways to prevent that- either compost veggies that would give you volunteers separately, or bulld your pile for extra heat to kill seeds. Set aside some extra browns and greens. When you clean up the garden, mix all that stuff together- not too dry. When the heat cycle dies back, turn it to heat again. That should kill the bulk of seeds


----------



## billb3

midwestcoast said:


> Since AP mentioned composting, can I bust in here with a compost question? I've composted for many years. Thought I had it down fairly well. I'm a novice gardener though. I put a raised bed in my front yard this year & filled with topsoil, composted cow manure and of course my own compost. Frickin' carpet of squash/cucumber and tomato seedlings from the compost. I'm pulling dozens of tomato volunteers per day, though the squash/cuc's have settled down to a few/day after threatening to take over the place. I plan to mulch with shredded leaves in a couple weeks hoping that with help, but lots of my seedlings are still pretty small so I can't mulch yet.
> How can I prevent this next year & still be able to use my compost?


 

I keep a 30 gallon plastic trash barrel for bread/any veggies with seeds or flesh that would attract critters. ( no sense feeding the squirrels, it only helps them multiply )
Add some grass clippings and leaves.
Gets pretty moldy and hot. Add that to the compost before it is too heavy to pick up. Seems to kill seeds better than a Hot pile that isn't consistently hot throughout.
I also bury compost in the soil rather than leave on top. ( except around fruit trees )
Sometimes I'll rototill it in, especially a new garden, but I've been doing less tilling.
Tilling in screened compost works better than side dressing.

I'd really like to lay it on top and scratch it in but Spring is too often far too short here.



All my compost piles have nappy headed chickweed tops to them though.
Seeds are in the air no matter what you do.


Getting a pile hot can be tough some years.
If it is a dry year I'll maintain a concave top on the pile to catch rain water and try to keep the pile wet enough.
On a wet year I'll keep a convex top to shed extra water to help stop it from cooling off.

I'll stick my hand in the pile and if it comes out with skin still on it it isn't hot enough.


----------



## midwestcoast

Thanks for the suggestions. Don't think I can convince my wife that we need 2 compost buckets in the kitchen & she does most the cooking. So I wouldn't be left with much to compost seperately. I could start snatching bags of grass clippings that my neighbors put out for collection... They already know I'm nuts.
So getting the pile hotter would be best, which is what I've read elsewhere too but doesn't seem easy with a small composter. With the new (small) garden plus a bigger plot at the comunity garden I should be getting more material which would help some.
Just as I'm writing this though I realize the biggest goof I made. That compost was made through the summer, fall & winter. It looked "done" but much of it never had a full bake through the summer.
Looks like I better go to a 2 composter rotation & make sure everything gets a full roast & then sits through the winter to be used in spring. Wait 'till I tell my wife we need to get at least 2 years ahead on compost too!


----------



## midwestcoast

Also I guess I'll till it in and cover with some light mulch *before* I plant next year.


----------



## semipro

I know tomato seeds make it through the human digestive system and sewer treatment plants intact.  I've seen them grow from sewage treatment plant sludge (biosolids).


----------



## lukem

Garden is officially in.  Put in the second planting of corn and sweet potatoes yesterday.  Will do one more planting of corn after the second planting sprouts.  Melons are starting to sprout.

Tomatoes are blooming.  'mater sammich cravings already starting.


----------



## Delta-T

picked my first strawberry yesterday, blueberries are getting plump...we added a different blueberry to the mix last year and it looks like we will get substantially more blueberries this year than years past. I had read that it would improve pollination, but its seems quite dramatic.


----------



## lukem

Getting about a pint of strawberries a day now.  Dayum those are good.


----------



## semipro

Something picked our first strawberry for us.  My wife accused me. 
Shes kind of selfish with the strawberries.


----------



## pdf27

Sucks being in a northern climate sometimes - mine have only just started to flower! One of the nicest days we've had yet this year and the thermometer is just reaching 60...


----------



## lukem

Picking a quart of strawberries a day now.  Romas and Cherries are now "tomatoing".


----------



## PapaDave

Wait a minute.....just 3 days ago, you were getting a pint.
WTH are feeding 'em?
That's awesome.
My tomatoes are starting to gain some ground...they've grown about 3" since planting. This is after 2 frost episodes.


----------



## lukem

PapaDave said:


> Wait a minute.....just 3 days ago, you were getting a pint. WTH are feeding 'em?


 
They were just getting started a few days ago...now they're rocking.

I'm out of town this week but when I talked to the wife she said we have a bazillion strawberries and the tomatoes need staked because they're starting to get some 'maters on.


----------



## PapaDave

We had some nice SB plants in the garden a few years ago.
I made the mistake of letting my wife loose in there with the tiller.
We have wild SB all over the place, but they get about as big as....well, they don't.


----------



## semipro

I made the mistakes of planting mint and rhubarb in my garden.  Its been years and I still haven't gotten rid of the stuff.


----------



## PapaDave

Oh man, tell me about it.
My wife LOVES chocolate mint.
It's now EVERYWHERE. Smells nice when I cut it, but that just makes it spread even farther. If you don't get every last strand of root (and you won't), well, let's just say I hope you like the stuff....a lot.
I made the mistake of dumping some horse manure on top of a bit in the garden, thinking it would smother it.
Yeah, right. It's the fastest growing batch out there. Straight up through the crap.


----------



## midwestcoast

lukem said:


> Picking a quart of strawberries a day now. Romas and Cherries are now "tomatoing".


 How many plants do you have to get that amount?  Thinking of starting some next year as we're soon losing a lot of shade in the back yard.


----------



## lukem

midwestcoast said:


> How many plants do you have to get that amount?  Thinking of starting some next year as we're soon losing a lot of shade in the back yard.


We have a very disorganized patch that's approx 6x12.  Started with 25 and they multiply 10 fold after a season or two.


----------



## Adios Pantalones

Still trying to eradicate strawberries. Had a bumpah crop, then they multiplied like the Duggars.

You need to replant every few years, so save the runners and kill the main plants. I may do that this year


----------



## lukem

I plan on doing that this year...if not they'll choke themselves out.


----------



## DevilsBrew

I have added cucumbers, yellow squash, and zucchini to the little plot.  It has only been a week and I have been raided by a rodent that seems to love sweet peppers and Black Krim tomatoes.  It leaves everything else alone!


----------



## Delta-T

i guess the 1 big upside to the potted garden is that nothing can wander. only a handful of strawberry plants..I see a runner, I cut it. We have some stray cat (I assume) coming and eating both our catmint, and catnip in the night. The catnip has no chance to do anything...the catmint is a fairly largish plant so its not being descimated. I can only imagine my 3 cats watcing out the bay window as some stray is eating _their _catnip....the nerve.


----------



## lukem

'Bout a gallon tonight.


----------



## DevilsBrew

I have pea plants!! Lol. It is amazing how the little discoveries are so exciting.


----------



## semipro

DevilsBrew said:


> I have pea plants!! Lol. It is amazing how the little discoveries are so exciting.


 
Maybe Adios Pantalones has been "peaing" in your garden too. 
https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/easy-garden-idea.109375/#post-1457930


----------



## SmokeyTheBear

lukem said:


> 'Bout a gallon tonight.


 
Has anyone ever told you that you are cruel?


----------



## billb3

Getting a fair crop of strawberries this year.
16 half pints of jam
picked a grocery bag of rhubarb so we'll see how much strawberry rhubarb that'll put up tomorrow maybe.


----------



## PapaDave

Green beans just started coming up.
Love green beans.


----------



## lukem

SmokeyTheBear said:


> Has anyone ever told you that you are cruel?


Picked another gallon tonight.  BOOYAH  ;-)


----------



## SmokeyTheBear

billb3 said:


> Getting a fair crop of strawberries this year.
> 16 half pints of jam
> picked a grocery bag of rhubarb so we'll see how much strawberry rhubarb that'll put up tomorrow maybe.


 
We have three bags of rhubarb in the freezer awaiting strawberries, still a couple of weeks away up here.


----------



## SmokeyTheBear

lukem said:


> Picked another gallon tonight. BOOYAH ;-)


 
Damn showoff .


----------



## DevilsBrew

I'm about 3 months behind everyone else.


----------



## billb3

I just got the last batch of roma tomatoes in today.
Behind schedule due to weather and vacation.


----------



## begreen

Nature often evens the score. We had a cold wet start last year until July. Then sun and no rain for almost 60 days. The crops caught up and delivered. It was a bit stressful on them, but the healthiest pulled through.


----------



## billb3

]
	

		
			
		

		
	




that's about how many I can pick before my back says time to do something else but we've got about 30 jars of jam, some half rhubarb and about 20 cups of berries froze
[




snow peas




green beans soon




trying some grafted tomatoes this year and this batch of cukes haven't drowned and look pretty green


----------



## Holzstapel

The wife and I belong to a local community garden because there is about 15sqft of sun in our yard for about 30 minutes a day.  It's within walking distance from the house and its located on a big farm owned by a really nice gentlemen.  It's fenced in, tools provided, water hoses every few plots (which are 15' x 15') and everyone there is very nice and welcoming.  It's a pleasure to walk around and see what everyone is growing.

We got a late start last year (our first year there) and just as our plants were taking off, a freak storm rolled through with 1/2" hail and destroyed everyones crops.  It looked like a drunk went in there with a weedwacker and ran around all willy-nilly.  It was a sad day, but most of the plants came back and we harvested some tomatoes and a few bags of Tomatillos.

This year in the plot we have 3 different pepper plants which are not liking the cool wet weather we are having.  The tomatoes, Mr. Stripey, Lemon Boy, Roma, and some deep purple type seem to be doing well and taking root.  We planted so many different herbs that I dont remember them all, but there is Rosemary, Sage, Parsley, Basil, etc.  Oh, there are 3 red cabbages too.  The asparagus we planted last year is back and ready to spread this year so we can harvest some next year.  Last, but not least, my (3) Tomatillo plants.   I make a great salsa verde for homemade enchilladas and the tomatillos are difficult to find in our area so why not grown my own!

We only planted it 3 weeks ago, which I think is a little late, there is plenty of time left in the growing season, we just need some more sun!


----------



## Delta-T

agreed, peppers not liking the rain so much...started dropping some leaves so I put them under cover. the thing that irks me is that peppers dont tend to recover very well after any type of hardship. my Spicy Thais still have a chance as they have been living indoors. I will try giving the pappers a good talking to...tell them they need to toughen up a bit and stop being pansies (see that...is a plant joke).


----------



## lukem

Picked 3 gallons of pie cherries from our tree last night.  Probably another 3 tonight.

Snow peas are taking off.  Turnips and carrots about ready to start picking too.


----------



## semipro

lukem, I'd like to say you're inspiring me but now you're just ticking me off.  
Strawberries and cherries; its hard to imagine anything more fun to grow and eat. 
We've cherry trees and strawberry plants but not many berries yet. 

Deer invaded the night before last and did an number on beans, potatoes, and tomatoes.  Got to get serious about fencing this weekend. 
Probably need to starting peeing around the garden again too.


----------



## jharkin

I cant take much credit, this is all the mrs. handiwork...


----------



## lukem

Fencing my garden was the best thing I did for it. Deer mowed it down routinely before I put the fence up...them and the garbage gut dog eating my 'maters and peppers.

Next up:

Got a 60' row of raspberries looking to give a strong yield. Early transparent apple tree should be ready by the end of the month for making apple sauce and pie fillings. Last year we did 12 gallons of apple sauce and 20-30 pie fillings. Hard to say how we'll do this year...the tree is loaded...but so loaded that one of the main branches (~25% of the tree) snapped off last weekend.


----------



## billb3

I didn't see any honey bees this year ( and there are orchards around me that [used to] have hives ) and not a lot of the smaller bees. Just a few moths/butterflies and bumblebees.
Didn't set much fruit in pears ( except for a bartlett ) and even the asian pears that normally I have to cull half are rather sparse. No apples. Plums didn't set much either.
Looks like 2 low yield years in a row. Last year it was the crazy extreme hot and cold  temperature swings .

Decent amount of strawberries but we've had so much rain they get mushy quick.

Peppers have pretty much stopped with the rain and cold nights here. Still a fairly healthy green color so maybe with some temps they'll take off again.


----------



## basod

Just got done with the first batch of pickles
Tomatoes have taken over - I tell myself every year they will be spaced further and then they grow twice as large


----------



## Adios Pantalones

Anyone else in the northeast have a less than stellar start with their peppers? Slightly yellowed, slow out of the gate- it's been cool and rainy too long I guess


----------



## SmokeyTheBear

Peppers are usually iffy where I am.  This year the boss says they seem to be doing fine, it is to soon to judge.  We are sort of in a protected area with the trees leafed out.  The garden has only been in a little over a week.


----------



## begreen

Most everything is doing well in the main beds, though the eggplants and peppers would like more heat. That will be coming soon hopefully. We've harvested lots of salad greens, spinach, leeks, and broccoli so far. Picked the first zukes yesterday. The upper garden is planted with a second pea and corn crop, squash, and some cukes.


----------



## DevilsBrew

AP, terrible gardening season here. Wet and cold. I have started to transition some of my peppers to containers. First, it will help me to limit the moisture. Second, if the summer keeps up like this then I will have to either build a hoop house or bring them inside.

Overall - My cold weather plants are doing great.

I took a gamble and decided to try a bunch of new stuff because of the hot summer last year. I lost that bet. Lesson learned. I am sticking with the short season varieties.


----------



## billb3

Adios Pantalones said:


> Anyone else in the northeast have a less than stellar start with their peppers? Slightly yellowed, slow out of the gate- it's been cool and rainy too long I guess


 
Mine haven't done much for the last two weeks.
Not turning yellow ( yet).
I didn't put mulch on them so the soil would hopefully be a little warmer so now I have a ton of weeds started.


----------



## Adios Pantalones

A handful of strawberries and these for today's harvest. Had wilted radish greens, feta, tomatoes, olives for dinner. Well, I just had the greens with balsamic vinegar, the wife had the fancy Mediteranian dish.


----------



## DevilsBrew

I'm really starting to worry with the solstice upon us....except for my orange mint.  That thing could survive an apocalypse.


----------



## lukem

Slow going on the hot weather plants here..but they look healthy.


----------



## begreen

DevilsBrew said:


> I'm really starting to worry with the solstice upon us....except for my orange mint. That thing could survive an apocalypse.


 
Hang in there. Last year we didn't break nighttime temps above 50 until July. It was a very tenuous start for our garden. But summer turned around and we has a stretch of about 60 days of straight sunshine that kicked most every thing into gear. Our fall harvest ended up being a good one.


----------



## Jags

Been harvesting radish and onions from the garden for a week or so.  Have my first cherry tomato starting to turn orangish.


----------



## basod

Same here with the peppers struggling - mine usually "turn on" around Aug-Sept and yield copious amounts of large-medium peppers.
we've been in a monsoon here this June so far, having to pick cucumbers&summer squash every day


----------



## lukem

Picked the first cherry tomato yesterday.

My brocolli, cauliflower, and cabbage got RAIDED by worms.  I think they are a lost cause.  Oh well...better luck this fall.  I'll probably take them out this weekend and put in some more green beans.


----------



## smokinj

lukem said:


> Picked the first cherry tomato yesterday.
> 
> My brocolli, cauliflower, and cabbage got RAIDED by worms. I think they are a lost cause. Oh well...better luck this fall. I'll probably take them out this weekend and put in some more green beans.


 
I need to thin mine out but other than that doing well. I got 200 feet of sweet corn at about knee high. Going to be a very good year for corn and beans.


----------



## midwestcoast

I'm still quite a way from having cherry tomatoes, but have been eating plenty of mixed greens, snap & snow peas and just started eating the Chard (yum!).
Pretty much everything is happy for some warm sunny weather in these long days. Pole beans are growing so fast you could almost sit & watch them climb!
I forgot to thin my beets, & they are pretty big already.  Should I just leave them?  Wait a bit & harvest some baby beets, or just thin them now & eat the greens?


----------



## begreen

Thin out the beets now to about 1 plant every 3-4". Put the greens in a salad.


----------



## mellow

Starting to get my first cherry tomatoes as well,  should have some ready to pick by the end of the week with all this rain we have been having.   The other tomato plants are budding up good and have quite a few well sized green ones that should be ready for picking next week.  Have plenty of greens for salad.  Carrots are doing well (as far as I can tell).  Using a new spot this year and only half my garden is growing good,  think I planted it to close to a tree and it is blocking some of the afternoon light.  Watermelon plant is growing good,  going to have to keep an eye on that so it doesn't take over the garden. My pepper plants are doing bad,  they are in the other half of the garden that I think is not getting enough sun.


----------



## begreen

What species tree? Hopefully not a walnut. If not, plant your cool loving crops there. That would be greens, lettuce, and cole crops like cauliflower and broccoli. They'll appreciate the partial shade.


----------



## smokinj

I put a set of chains on the roto-tiller last night. Got them off a snow blower. It is easier to handle now and goes deeper.


----------



## mellow

begreen said:


> What species tree?


Magnolia


----------



## muncybob

Just picked my first brocolli heads...been picking and enjoying the strawberries. Something has totally eaten my beans, beets and cukes!!


----------



## Jags

muncybob said:


> Just picked my first brocolli heads...been picking and enjoying the strawberries. Something has totally eaten my beans, beets and cukes!!


 
Eat them back.


----------



## lukem

I was talking to my uncle the other day about how the worms got my stuff.  His garden is fenced just like mine, except he added a small chicken run around the perimeter...maybe 18" wide.  A couple birds run around all day, every day.  He has zero bugs in his garden.  Thinking of giving it a go next year.


----------



## smokinj

lukem said:


> I was talking to my uncle the other day about how the worms got my stuff. His garden is fenced just like mine, except he added a small chicken run around the perimeter...maybe 18" wide. A couple birds run around all day, every day. He has zero bugs in his garden. Thinking of giving it a go next year.


 
Reminds me of the song: Bawhaha.....


----------



## lukem

smokinj said:


> Reminds me of the song: Bawhaha.....






I guess that would qualify as two trailer park girls running round the outside.


----------



## basod

lukem said:


> I guess that would qualify as two trailer park girls running round the outside.


They go round the outside round the outside....
Somehow or another that album appealed to all manner of age groups & demographics 
even my Canadian buddy loved it


----------



## bogydave

Stuff growing good
Watering ever other day.
Eating a few cherry tomatoes, lots of cucs, (green house) + garden  radishes, lettuce & spinach  (great garden salads)


----------



## midwestcoast

Hmmm, Dave's garden is ahead of mine & he's in Alaska.  I guess I have a LOT to learn 
Okay, I was lazy & planted most stuff direct to the garden, while he was working hard in the green house.
Greens, chard, kale, peas & some beet greens is all I've eaten so far.  Zuc's & Cuc's started very slow for me, but hitting their stride now.  It's a race with the cuc beetles on the way. Last year they brought wilt with them & that was all she wrote. Cherry tomatoes are just over 2' tall with a few marble sized fruit. Surprised they haven't taken off yet.


----------



## mellow

Had a nice salad last night,  everything was grown in the garden,  carrots,  lettuce, cherry tomatoes.   The tomatoes are going crazy with these 90 degree days.


----------



## begreen

Nice! We won't be seeing tomatoes for a few weeks. Not enough heat yet.


----------



## DevilsBrew

Got my first strawberry tonight.  I would have taken a picture but it lasted about 2 seconds off the vine.


----------



## semipro

Saw one of our our dogs grazing in the strawberry patch tonight as we enjoyed the sunset from chairs by the garden. 
I'm hoping my wife who was sitting with me now believes it wasn't me who ate them.


----------



## lukem

Things are finally starting to produce. Picked about 6 green peppers, some jalapenos, a few cherry tomatoes, a roma tomato, some japanese eggplant, a few zucs, and some carrots.

Tomato plants are loaded down and green beans and cucs in full bloom. Won't be long before I get hit with a wall of produce.

Corn and mellons on the outside of the fence...wood piles in the very far background.


----------



## begreen

Looking really good Luke.


----------



## DevilsBrew




----------



## billb3

I picked two tomatoes today.
They were red too.


----------



## Doug MacIVER

only six weeks in on our garden. plants are all healthy, got cucumber beetles down early and squash borer under control I think. problem is fruit setting. zucchini only one so far and rest are withering on the plant. beans about 1/2" hope the heat doesn't do them in. tomatoes, outside of the cherries, have plenty of buds but slow to show toms. anybody else having problems . maybe i'm  just a little impatient?


----------



## laynes69

We harvested 8 heads of broccoli which was froze and we also collected 4 dozen sweet onions the size of baseballs. There's yellow onions to get soon, garlic that's getting ready to come off and we've been getting cucumbers. Other than it raining everyday, things are doing well. The garden is getting a little weedy unfortunately, but haven't had the time I normally do. I wasn't going to garden this year with the projects we're doing, but glad we did. There's some nice looking gardens on here.


----------



## DevilsBrew

ornamental peppers & peas


----------



## mellow

I am getting plenty of tomatoes at my house but others are just getting buds around here. I have  had to add additional bracing my holders due to the plants growing so much, and we got dwarf ones this year thinking that would fix the issue of overgrowth that we had last year.


----------



## lukem

Lots of squash and japanese eggplant right now. Lots of turnips...lots of carrots. Lettuce and peas are starting to die off with the heat as expected.

Picked several huge bell peppers. Raspberries are starting to come on strong...about a pint a day.

Cucs almost ready to pick.

Green beans are beaning. Corn and melons still a ways off.

Early transparent apple tree is ready to go. The wife made apple pie, apple bread, and apple cookies over the weekend. Next weekend we'll make apple sauce and pie fillings to go in the freezer. Should get 10+ gallons of sauce and 40+ pie fillings.


----------



## lukem

mellow said:


> I am getting plenty of tomatoes at my house but others are just getting buds around here. I have had to add additional bracing my holders due to the plants growing so much, and we got dwarf ones this year thinking that would fix the issue of overgrowth that we had last year.


 

The first year I planted a "real" garden we planted some heirloom tomatoes that grew all the way up the 6-7 foot stake, then all the way back down to the ground again.


----------



## Jags

Yep - as expected - the perfect time for my upright freezer to croak.  @)##)&$^ 
Well - at least I am gonna take half a day off to go freezer shopping.


----------



## Slow1

Our garden is doing reasonably well - tomatoes are looking great, very healthy growth, lots of buds and a few small green fruit showing.  I expect a couple of the cherry variants will have ripe fruit within the next week or so.  Looking forward to having an excess of tomatoes this year as we have some 20 plants of various types in the ground.

I have a melon plant that is doing very well except that the blossoms keep getting cut off by something.  I see the blossom 'stalk' there and the blossom on the ground and it looks clean cut off.  Open to suggestions on what it is that is eating these off and how to solve it otherwise I'm going to have quite a bit of space with healthy (non-edible) foliage covering the ground and nothing worth harvesting from it.


----------



## Doug MacIVER

Slow1 said:


> Our garden is doing reasonably well - tomatoes are looking great, very healthy growth, lots of buds and a few small green fruit showing. I expect a couple of the cherry variants will have ripe fruit within the next week or so. Looking forward to having an excess of tomatoes this year as we have some 20 plants of various types in the ground.
> 
> I have a melon plant that is doing very well except that the blossoms keep getting cut off by something. I see the blossom 'stalk' there and the blossom on the ground and it looks clean cut off. Open to suggestions on what it is that is eating these off and how to solve it otherwise I'm going to have quite a bit of space with healthy (non-edible) foliage covering the ground and nothing worth harvesting from it.


 
just the male flowering out? are you getting the same on the female flowers? my zucchini is loaded with males and a few females, the girls are becoming more numerous.


----------



## Slow1

I'm a new gardener - and apparently didn't pay close enough attention in my biology classes to remember how to tell the difference between male/female flowers.  I'll have to take a closer look and see...

E.


----------



## Doug MacIVER

Slow1 said:


> I'm a new gardener - and apparently didn't pay close enough attention in my biology classes to remember how to tell the difference between male/female flowers. I'll have to take a closer look and see...
> 
> E.


females have the ovarian bump at the base of the bud. looks like the fruit in miniature. male squash buds can last as short as a day in hot weather. looks like my bush beans survived the heat, gonna be a bunch.


----------



## Doug MacIVER

bye, bye heat in se mass, great radar of cold frt. moving to south west  http://weather.cod.edu/satrad/nexrad/


----------



## Slow1

Thanks for the info - will check tomorrow morning and see.  Perhaps all is well enough.  I don't even know what this plant is exactly as it was a volunteer that popped up our of my worm bins.  We consume a lot of different melons and such so it could have been any one of these that the seed sprouted from.  It is extremely healthy looking - only leaves taht nothing has munched on yet.


----------



## save$

bogydave said:


> Stuff growing good
> Watering ever other day.
> Eating a few cherry tomatoes, lots of cucs, (green house) + garden radishes, lettuce & spinach (great garden salads)
> 
> View attachment 105138
> 
> 
> View attachment 105137
> View attachment 105139


man  that is fantastic,  I have tomatoes, but nothing else early this year.  Looks good.  We were so slow this year.  Rains all the time. then too hot to do anything


----------



## mellow

My garden is nowhere near as nice as others here have posted,  I put it in a new location this year and even with a tree shading the sun during the afternoon it is still producing tomatoes like crazy.  I took this picture yesterday after I had got done picking the ripe ones (should have taken pic before.. duh).


----------



## Doug MacIVER

Doug MacIVER said:


> bye, bye heat in se mass, great radar of cold frt. moving to south west http://weather.cod.edu/satrad/nexrad/


 
just a side note on the radar shot. pete bouchard, a local meteo, explained the echos were actually from  bugs retreating from the cooler air.


----------



## lukem

Jalapeños appear to be healthy this year.


----------



## lukem

So do the maters


----------



## Doug MacIVER

lukem said:


> So do the maters


 
mater envy, yes it does mater!


----------



## lukem

Almost mater sammich time.  Mmmmmmmmm


----------



## Doug MacIVER

well it isn't much but the truck farm is producing! zucc, green beans, cucks in the pasta salad. every thing is coming along. squash borer did get two sum. squash plants so far but everything else coming along.. getting ready for fall beans, peas, and brocc.  have a day, getting tired of sharing sex with the butternut squash, short on bees


----------



## begreen

We're facing a hellacious war with the deer this year. They have figured out weak spots in the fencing and have done a fair amount of damage. I raised the fence to a full 8-10 ft and anchored down anywhere they could crawl underneath (yes, they do this). Beans just got ***** along with my favorite apple. I hate those 4 legged rats.

Still, in spite of varmint attacks, this has been a really nice growing year so far. Corn is 8ft. tall and looking good. Cukes, tomatoes, eggplant and peppers all have good fruit on them. Hope the fencing improvements work or I am going to have to find a hungry hunter.


----------



## Jags

'Choot 'em Elizabeth.  'CHOOT.


----------



## begreen

Can't do that here. Neighbors are too close. I'm searching for a good bow and arrow hunter but the season doesn't begin until September!


----------



## Delta-T

time to break down and get yourself a coyote begreen...they don't like veggies so much, but they d like long legged rat.


----------



## begreen

They are just starting to come back in the area and haven't worked into our neighborhood yet. I suspect they are getting nice and fat up north still.


----------



## Jags

Pee around your garden. Worked for my swimming pool.

( I had one of those soft sided pools that a big buck was emptying each night, trying to get a drink.  You could see where the water flowed over the grass and his hind prints in the dirt)


----------



## begreen

Have done that. They are too used to my scent by now I guess. I have also used wolf urine in the past. No matter what you try they will eventually get used to it. I'm wondering if I can rent a junkyard dog until hunting season.


----------



## Delta-T

get one of those motion sensing Halloween Ghouls that make that cackling laugh and jiggle when someone gets near.


----------



## lukem

A couple nights ago the deer took my pear trees down to just the trunk.  Ate every last leaf and twig off of them.  I'm putting up the trail cam tonight to see what I'm dealing with (how many).  

I'm considering a cross-bow and night vision goggles.


----------



## begreen

Bummer. I've been told a paint ball gun could be handy for marking the perps.


----------



## DevilsBrew

Jags said:


> Pee around your garden. Worked for my swimming pool.


 
I will refrain from being a smartass.


----------



## Jags

DevilsBrew said:


> I will refrain from being a smartass.


 
Hey - if you are gonna get away with peeing in the pool, I believe you should at least be in it.


----------



## mellow

I was going to suggest a cross bow as well, very quiet and will take down a deer easily at 30 yards. Seems to be about one of the only things you can get ammo for these days.


----------



## begreen

Good idea. Although that unit gets poor reviews, it appears that Havahart makes a more reliable one.


----------



## lukem

Two doe photographed at dark thirty.  Looked well fed.  Wonder why...


----------



## lukem

Wanted, dead or alive.


----------



## Jags

So I gotta ask, what are you going to do with it, if it is caught alive?


----------



## lukem

Jags said:


> So I gotta ask, what are you going to do with it, if it is caught alive?


 

Make it so it can't eat my garden.  There are a number of ways to make that happen.


----------



## smokinj

Call DNR and get a special permit. Or, they may just tell you to shot it.


----------



## mellow

I will take the tenderloin, I am all out.


----------



## osagebow

Have not looked at my "Summer Rambo"  apple tree in a few days, was planning on picking it this weekend. Apples were small this year but it set a good crop.  Even had some graft branches set fruit. Saw three squirrels on it this morning....went out to look, and.......IT'S BARE! 
They normally eat a few, but have never cleaned me out competely.

It's on. They drew first blood on the Rambo, not me....


----------



## Doug MacIVER

I would set up a camera but the squash borer is a little to small. losing my zucchini one by one to the damn things. I always wondered what that strange red wasp like moth was. beware of frass!


----------



## lukem

Sweet corn in a couple days.  Winter squash and melons are completely out of control and taking over the garden.


----------



## mellow

I got tomatoes coming out the ying yang,  wife won't can them so I am having to take them to work and give them away.  Now the peppers are starting to really produce in numbers,  gotta figure out what I am going to do with them.  Planted less this year thinking that would help keep down how many go bad before we eat them.


----------



## DevilsBrew

Extra peppers?  I've started to go tapas crazy.

Best garden I have ever had.  Not super good like everyone else's but really successful.  Had to share my joy.


----------



## begreen

Good to hear things are growing strong. I love this time of the year.


----------



## firebroad

mellow said:


> I got tomatoes coming out the ying yang, wife won't can them so I am having to take them to work and give them away. Now the peppers are starting to really produce in numbers, gotta figure out what I am going to do with them. Planted less this year thinking that would help keep down how many go bad before we eat them.


 
Why not freeze them, if you have a freezer?  My brother and his wife used to toss them in zipbags right in the deep freeze.  Then when they wanted to make sauce and such, the skins would slip right off.
Peppers can be diced and frozen, too.  I usually have a couple of gallons in my freezer.


----------



## mellow

I have tried freezing them in the past and they come out mushy when we thaw them,  I guess that would be ok for sauces and what not,  just won't make a good BLT in the middle of the winter.


----------



## firebroad

Well no, but then neither would a canned tomato...
But what the heck, at least you are popular at work!


----------



## jharkin

Well our garden is done. We went away for vacation for a week and the deer ate it all. Everything except for some celery is trash. My wife about wanted to cry. 

Next year we will have to put up some kind of fence.


----------



## SolarAndWood

I feel all of your pain about the tick bags.  Vinyl coated metal fence on 8' t posts reinforced every two feet with galvanized wire didn't keep em out.   I'm almost done with my lower fence project, pulled the old retaining wall out, sunk 16 ft 4x4s and then rebuilt the wall.  The rest of the project should be relatively easy, drill holes and set the poles.  Should have it done before the rut this year which is when they really get out of hand.  This is good because a small herd was eyeing the garden as they just walked buy in the lower part of the lot.

We have gotten a ton of rain this year.  We have 30 roma plants in that look like a hedge row now.  Should be a great year for em if I can keep the blight out.


----------



## firebroad

jharkin said:


> Well our garden is done. We went away for vacation for a week and the deer ate it all. Everything except for some celery is trash. My wife about wanted to cry.
> 
> Next year we will have to put up some kind of fence.


 
Oh, how awful.  I have never lost an entire garden to them--yet.  Maybe you can go hunting later and recover some of that lost produce?


----------



## jharkin

firebroad said:


> Oh, how awful. I have never lost an entire garden to them--yet. Maybe you can go hunting later and recover some of that lost produce?


 

Ha.. You know my wife hates guns and yesterday she was joking about getting a shotgun to take a shot at the deer. In jest but that's how mad she was. Our tomato plants were full of green buds as we left and she was expecting a big harvest this weekend.....all lost.


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## begreen

Oh man Jeremy, you have my utmost sympathy. I have been holding them off from the main garden with a portable, battery powered electric fence and a water-pressure scarecrow. It seems to be be working. In the meantime our orchard is getting clearr cut up to the 5 ft level. We are seeking a good professional bow hunter that wants some easy meat.


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## lukem

If my garden wasn't fenced I wouldn't have a garden.  Whatever the dog wouldn't eat, the deer would.

My fence is only about 6' tall, but have never had a deer inside...knock on wood.  8' treated buried 24"-30" deep, 4' of 2x4 mesh welded wire and 3-4 courses of smooth wire on top of that.

I expanded the garden this year for corn and the deer ate a lot of it.  I drove in some 8' T posts on the corners and tied up yellow mason's line every 18" or so and it has completely kept the deer out...for now.


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## begreen

I found a bambi in the yard this morning. There's no way could it jump the fence. That got me looking at an area where I noticed deer droppings yesterday. Voila! Although it looked intact, when I pulled on the bottom of the fence in that area it was free of the bottom guy wire. Now I know what happened. That line of the fence is in common with the neighbors. They keep their yard very neat so for the first year I religiously weedeated along that fence line. That weakened the bottom edge and they exploited the weakness by tearing the fence and crawling under the fence. I spent the morning reattaching the good edge to the bottom guy line. It is nice and snug there now. Fingers crossed, this is getting old.


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## DevilsBrew

Some spares from this morning


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## lukem

I picked about 100 ears of corn this weekend.  Gave a couple dozen to the neighbors and boiled up a big pot last night at the in-laws.  It was ridiculously good.

Dug about 100 lbs of taters over the past couple weekends.

Picked a "test" watermelon yesterday.  It was about a week too early and still good...really good.  Inspected the 'loupes and I have about 30 that I can see from the edges of the patch.  Good thing my 8 year old son can crush a whole cantaloupe in one sitting my himself.  

Winter squash is rockin'.  Should get about 30-40 of them.

Did so much canning this year and the over-the-winter stuff (taters, squash, garlic, etc) did so good this year I had to build some extra shelves down in the basement to hold it all.

Got the fall stuff planted too.  Hard to believe the season is almost over.


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## Doug MacIVER

begreen said:


> I found a bambi in the yard this morning. There's no way could it jump the fence. That got me looking at an area where I noticed deer droppings yesterday. Voila! Although it looked intact, when I pulled on the bottom of the fence in that area it was free of the bottom guy wire. Now I know what happened. That line of the fence is in common with the neighbors. They keep their yard very neat so for the first year I religiously weedeated along that fence line. That weakened the bottom edge and they exploited the weakness by tearing the fence and crawling under the fence. I spent the morning reattaching the good edge to the bottom guy line. It is nice and snug there now. Fingers crossed, this is getting old.


that's how the Hatfield and McCoy thing started


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## PapaDave

I may try some more lettuce soon.
Picked all the green beans yesterday, and one tomato. It wasn't fully ripe, but I couldn't help myself.
Out of the 24 GB seeds I planted, I only got 7 plants. Seeds were a little old, so not too surprised. I expect one more picking, at least.
Next year will be the "Year of the Green Bean".
Does anyone know how big sweet potato plants should be to able to dig up the taters? We have 8-9 plants, but they haven't gotten very big. I'll wait a while longer, but I'm curious.
I dug the red potatoes too soon a couple years ago.


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## firebroad

_[quote="Next year will be the "Year of the Green Bean"._
_Does anyone know how big sweet potato plants should be to able to dig up the taters? We have 8-9 plants, but they haven't gotten very big. I'll wait a while longer, but I'm curious._
_I dug the red potatoes too soon a couple years ago.[/quote]_

This year is MY "Year of the Green Bean"!! Best year I have had in 5.
I was helping my buddy in Central Pa (Tyrone) dig red potatoes in early November. I believe his were ready in late September, early October; Sweet Potatoes are probably going to be a little later, as they like long, Southern climates. Don't know if they will stand frost, though. I would wait until the last possible moment.


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## lukem

This is my first year planting sweet taters.  I have no idea when to dig them either.  I think I have 20 plants, give or take.


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## brian89gp

lukem said:


> This is my first year planting sweet taters. I have no idea when to dig them either. I think I have 20 plants, give or take.


 
These parts its on or around Thanksgiving.


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## SolarAndWood

tried my hand at braiding whats left of our garlic harvest...quickly figured out that zip ties are more my style.


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## DevilsBrew




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## DevilsBrew

The Hillbillies are finally turning


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## begreen

Our garden is in the red. 





Who says you can't grow hot peppers in the NW? These are very hot jalepenos.


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## DevilsBrew

begreen said:


> Our garden is in the red.
> 
> View attachment 111256
> View attachment 111258
> 
> 
> Who says you can't grow hot peppers in the NW? These are very hot jalepenos.
> View attachment 111257




We share almost an identical climate.  Would you mind sharing your methods?


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## DevilsBrew

I covered up the kale, carrots, radishes, and strawberries with cheap plastic.  The first frost hit last night.  I stripped the last of the fruit from 7 pepper plants.  I am bringing in small container tomatoes, peppers, and eggplants that are currently protected on a porch.


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## Doug MacIVER

sad to say all done, late blight on the toms. fun year with the truck farm though, thanks for the idea.


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## midwestcoast

A few frosty nights in a row here & we're about done too.  Picked all the green tomatoes that were big enough to bother with.  I guess I didn't prune my heirloom plants anywhere near enough because they mad a LOT of fruit that never made it to full ripe...
There's still a bunch of SunGold Cherry tomatoes out there to munch on while doing yard work.
Kale is happy as ever, but I will have to cover it soon enough (unless we have a non-winter like last year).  Harvested a bunch of Chard today, but it may be the last. Not sure how much cold it will take. 
A successfuland fun year in the garden.  Next year = BIGGER!


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## firebroad

Stripped the garden and cleaned it up last week before going out of town on vacation.  Dug up the rosemary and brought it into the cellar.  Gave the green 'maters to a niece to ripen in in her basement.

I just got back home today, the neighbor said they got some wet sleet for a while yesterday in town, they are calling for a freeze tonight.

Garden on a whole was productive, but tomatoes were not as nice as other years, and deer ate up the beets.  Tons of greenbeans, pickles, etc in jars in the basement.


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## Bret Chase

We've had a few frosts here... I will pick off the last of the green beans, peppers, and slim purple eggplant... and it's all going to get tilled very soon...


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## mellow

I have one plant left,  my jalapeno peppers are still producing even with the cold overnight temps,  everything else has been tilled.


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## 1750

I got the garlic planted last weekend.   Better a little late than never.


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## begreen

This is a good time to plant garlic, it's a bulb. The old tradition is to plant garlic on the shortest day of the year and harvest it on the longest. It helps keep bad spirits away or something like that. Must work, I haven't seen a vampire yet!


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## 1750

I've never seen a vampire either... you must be right.

folks above the Mason-Dixon might want to plant their garlic before the winter solstice!


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## UncleJoe

A little late to the party but...

I had a bumper crop of cucumbers this year. Canned about 60 pints of pickles; dill, B&B and 1 batch of sweet. Tomatoes did fairly well. Made and canned several batches of tomato soup. Yellow wax beans produced well enough to give me about 40 pints.

On the flip side, all the root veggies were a bust. We had copious amounts of rain in the spring and early summer and most of that stuff rotted in the ground.  I should have started them over for a late fall harvest but just never got around to it.


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## DevilsBrew

My lettuce has sprouted


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## midwestcoast

Peas are about 2" tall. Baby greens, arugula, kale, chard, spinach & beets are all up but seem to be slow getting started. Nothing else planted yet (that I can remember ). 
I may have jumped the gun a bit, or I may have added too many shredded leaves in the fall & they're stealing nitrogen. Added some rotted manure, so that should help the N a bit. 
Oh, and we ate some chives tonight


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## osagebow

midwestcoast said:


> Peas are about 2" tall. Baby greens, arugula, kale, chard, spinach & beets are all up but seem to be slow getting started. Nothing else planted yet (that I can remember ).
> I may have jumped the gun a bit, or I may have added too many shredded leaves in the fall & they're stealing nitrogen. Added some rotted manure, so that should help the N a bit.
> Oh, and we ate some chives tonight



Love chard - lazy man's spinach. Not popping yet, put it in late. My arugala is up, colonizes half the garden.  Beans sproting, snow peas up with no flowers yet. Carrots and lettuce popping, garlic going gangbusters. Apples set low numbers it looks like, less thinning this year.


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## begreen

I put the corn in and some tomatoes yesterday. Zukes have been in for a week. Lettuce is coming in by the bucketloads. I had a nice row of carrots started but some critter ate them overnight.  I planted again today and put a row cover over them. Peas are about 18" high, should be flowering soon.


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## 1750

Planted sugar snap peas, spinach, chard and radishes last night.   It's a month later than usual, but the ground was still frozen a month ago.

The fruit trees and grapes all look good and are about to bud.   My blueberries were decimated by the rabbits... the snow was so deep they stripped the bud branches up nearly 4 ft.


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## firebroad

Beets and carrots in.  Red lettuce, started inside, now outside--having a few salads.  Tomatoes, peppers--will go in this weekend, barring rain, as well as beans and squash seeds.
Should have put chard in, but haven't any seed yet.
Butterfly bushes and hydrangeas are toast, thanks to prolonged ice and snow.  Some sprouting from the bottom, so no blooms for hydrangea this year.  Not sure what I will get with cherry, peach and apple trees--thin blooms, and might have had petalfall before pollinators got busy..


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## EatenByLimestone

Everything is in here, but many seeds haven't germinated yet.  The bunnies pretty much murdered a couple blueberry bushes.  Maybe the few buds that are left will be enough to keep the plant alive.


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## 1750

We need to start a "favorite recipes for rabbit" thread.


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## Woodman37

Just getting the ground tilled up, ran outta room real fast last year so I'm expanding the garden this year. Gonna make my first attempt at green beans and planning more spices. I live in east central ohio and my grandfather always told me never put your plants in the ground until you see the locust trees bloom. So far he has been right. My 4 yr old daughter has informed me that she is going to live on a farm when she grows up so she wants to help daddy put the garden in. However last week she was going to be an animal doctor before that a mail lady. So cute.


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## firebroad

EatenByLimestone said:


> Everything is in here, but many seeds haven't germinated yet.  The bunnies pretty much murdered a couple blueberry bushes.  Maybe the few buds that are left will be enough to keep the plant alive.


You have GOT to get this product called, "I Must Garden", it is a natural spray that doesn't stink, lasts a whole month whether it rains or not, and keeps the critters off.  They make different formulas for rabbits, deer, etc.  If the garden centers don't carry it, Amazon has it.  It is a bit pricey, but considering the other "stinky" repellents that have to be sprayed every week or more if it rains, I found it to be economical in the long run.
http://www.amazon.com/Must-Garden-Rabbit-Repellent-Trigger/dp/B000OM6EE0


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## begreen

The only thing that works against the local deer are a good fence or a gun. Well, ok a crossbow too.


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## EatenByLimestone

I'll be fencing them in with half inch hardware cloth.  I had previously used deer netting, but it was a pain.  I had planned to build a frame around them this year and I think the bunnies got to them while they could.


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## begreen

I suspect our seedling starts were eaten by birds or slugs. No deer or rabbits in our garden. Hopefully the row cover and some slug bait will end this.


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## firebroad

That reminds me, I just put in tomatoes, peppers and basil just before it rained here.  Have to get out there and put paper collars on before cutworms show up.


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## BrotherBart

The walls of the grocery store keep most of those things out of my garden. The produce department.


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## begreen

Often one can't buy veggies and fruit of the quality and flavor that one can at grow at home. It's also nice to know that their will not be salmonella, eColi, pesticides and herbicides on what we eat. Besides, it's good exercise and one of the few that is enjoyable.


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## BrotherBart

People actually eat veggies?


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## begreen

Yep, even broccoli.


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## DevilsBrew

I've got strawberries from last year's runners   I am going to work on compiling the "wild ones", container, and a couple I purchased into either a mound or row today.


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## begreen

This may be painful, but you should pinch off the first buds from the young plants so that it puts more energy into strong roots and leaves. Then let it flower. You'll get a better berry crop.


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## DevilsBrew

Will do.  Thanks.


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## begreen

I just went out and pinched off the bud stalks off of about 20 new plants. They need more growth time to be able to support a crop of berries.


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## 1750

This is always tough for me to do (just like not letting fruit form on grape vines the first year), but my head tells me in the long run its the right call.


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## valley ranch

Hi, Just started bringing in the greens, Mustard, lettuce, and spinach. Nice. Moved a few things into the greenhouse that we've been keeping in the house. Added a new 30' X 40' growing area.
I've waited all year for this.

Richard


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## EatenByLimestone

Asparagus is about done.  Most of the patch was put in last year so I don't want to stress the plants too much.  One rhubarb patch is ready to go.  The other will be ready in a week or so.  Radishes are also about ready.  I'll at least thin them for a nice salad.  Oddly, the spinach really hasn't made a run yet.


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## jharkin

After last summers complete lost of the harvest to deer, my wife wanted to put up a good fence this time around.  Ideally she wanted a nice wooden fence like split rail or such with wire mesh backing... but that wasnt int the budget... not to mention I dont know how Id sink the posts with all the boulders in this area.

So instead, for < $100 and an hours labor I put up some inexpensive wire/plastic mesh. So many boulders just under the surface I couldnt even sink all the poles properly... Here's hoping it gets the job done and we actually can eat the vegetables this year ...


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## Cynnergy

I am still trying to mark out all of the bulbs in my neglected-for-at-least-a-decade garden and no time to fence or plant, but I thought this might be useful to some (courtesy of Modern Farmer - sorry for giant size, can't get it smaller without it becoming unreadable):


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## 1750

We are still so late here.  And it froze again last week.  My peas are just coming up, as are the radishes.  I haven't seen anything of all the spinach and kale I planted, which is odd.   I'm not sure what's going to happen here.  Usually we are eating the thinnings from these already.  They should be coming up just when it usually gets hot and they start to bolt.

The rhubarb is going great blazes, and the grapevines are really starting to take off.  My blueberries have a few leaves, but the bloom buds are very sparse thanks to the rabbits.  I'm hoping they have enough leaves on them to survive the summer.  #%&! rabbits.


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## begreen

Cynnergy said:


> I am still trying to mark out all of the bulbs in my neglected-for-at-least-a-decade garden and no time to fence or plant, but I thought this might be useful to some (courtesy of Modern Farmer - sorry for giant size, can't get it smaller without it becoming unreadable):
> 
> View attachment 133297



Click on the thumbnail image to enlarge.


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## valley ranch

jharkin, Electric fence will keep deer out. Some people hang a piece of aluminum foil over the hot wire with peanut butter on it to teach the deer.
We use them for bear, deer other problems.

Richard


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## begreen

Our gardens are now almost fully planted. Tomatoes are about 18" tall and happy, though we are fighting flea beetles. And we have our first strawberry almost ready to pick!


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## 1750

Your garden looks great!  

Your raised beds look like they are faced with pebbled patio tiles?  What is your system for keeping them vertical and in place?

Also, I'm impressed with your restraint.   
At our house if I'd pick that strawberry.   If I didn't, it's for certain a chipmunk would think it was ripe exactly one day before I did.


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## begreen

Thanks. The beds are made up of cement "L" blocks and corner blocks. There is an unseen L leg under the dirt. They are self-supporting.

Sow bugs munched on the strawberry the next morning.


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## DevilsBrew

Trying 2 cucumbers and 1 eggplant with straw bale gardening.  I am crossing my fingers that the plants make it overnight since there is a grazer in the garden.  I didn't want to try any larger sized plants because of the location and wind.


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