2018 garden thread!

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All our warm weather plants are in the ground now. It's make it or break it time. I have some duplicates in the greenhouse if we get a bad chill, but so far the forecast looks promising.
 
Corn's up! Yay!

[Hearth.com] 2018 garden thread! [Hearth.com] 2018 garden thread!

Raised beds are starting to wake up.

[Hearth.com] 2018 garden thread!
 
I got two yards of compost mixed into the beds yesterday. The brocolli will be planted in the next day or two and most everything else won't be far behind. The extended forecast finally looks like it should.
 
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If I remember correctly, he uses landscape fabric.

First harvest from the garden this morning! Chives for eggs!

I can get some kale too. Hopefully salad greens will be ready by the end of the week!
 
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Yes, commercial landscape fabric. Pretty heavy stuff, though after 8 yrs it's starting to show wear.
 
My brocolli seedlings got planted yesterday. Now I need to plan the rest of my layout of what's going where and get some seeds in the ground.
 
i put in 2 snap pea plants, and 1 tomato plant yesterday. The flowers are blowing up right now though! I have so many dandelions!

Also, my irises are doing quite nicely, as are my snow in summer.
[Hearth.com] 2018 garden thread!

I am also going to be moving the garden out back here, so i can look at the wood pile when I am gardening :)
[Hearth.com] 2018 garden thread!
 
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I'm almost all in. My new strawberries arrived and I need to get a load of compost for the beds.
 
I figured out that ole rusty can make it up the hill with a truck full of dirt...
[Hearth.com] 2018 garden thread! [Hearth.com] 2018 garden thread! [Hearth.com] 2018 garden thread!
and one of the garden... watermelon, cucumbers, patty pan, zuchinni, eggplant, 4 types of peppers, 3 types of tomatoes. The spinaches, lettuces, herbs, radishes, beets and onions will probably go in the front of the house in pots...
 
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This is the first year I've been able to pick more than a few spears of asparagus. I picked a pound today and it was only 8 stalks. They are huge and they are awesome.
 
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I have a couple spears coming up from the bed I buried last year. I wanted to get rid of the weeds and use the space for leafy greens. I started another bed with 50 purple passions this year on the other side of my lawn. I don't think I'm going to harvest anything from the old bed. Some are under 10" of new soil! I'll let them store up some energy.
 
Sweet potato slips came in the mail yesterday, met the soil this morning. I think that pretty much rounds out the garden for this year. There's a little open space left for leafy greens and a second planting of beans.

I have a single Roma tomato on the vine already!

The leaves stored and used as mulch seem to be working really well keeping weeds down and soil moist. I threw a layer over the bean patch and they sprouted almost immediately.

I think it's going to be a good year with lots of lessons!
 
Wow, you have pole vaulted past us. We have some tomatoes in bloom, but none with fruit yet. When did you start the Roma?
 
I started San Marzano and some grapes (I'd have to look up the variety.) on 3/1. They are decent sized, but I dont think i've seen any blossoms on them yet. The Romas were bought at the local box because they were on sale and I was shocked to see them for sale in April. I mentioned them on another board as in the ground at 7am on May 1, so they were planted in late April.

They're buried pretty deep. I remember hitting rocks when digging the hole for them. The bottom of the plant is like 10" below the soil since it's a 2x10 raised bed. They probably have a great root base pushing them.
 
It's a weird year. I looked at my peas and have some brand new sprouts that popped up in the last few days.

Memorial Day is the traditional garden in day here. Last frost date is May 8.
 
Our greenhouse Early Girl is over 3' tall and looking good, but only blossoms so far.
 
EatenByLimestone said:
View attachment 226878 View attachment 226879

There are 2 tomatoes!
Click to expand...

Wow!

A neighbor came over today and looked at my garden. He said we needed to get more shade in the next couple of weeks or our tomatoes wouldn't set fruit. He was excited by the cucumbers, though, and was helping me think through getting my trellises set up to grow them vertically. I would normally pound rebar into the ground and slip the frame over, but pounding rebar into the ground is more difficult when there is no soil only rock. I started on it but couldn't get one side down far enough. I need to reposition and ask my husband to use the sledgehammer, I think.

I also saw aphids on a bit of dill. I pulled those plants up, but I'm sure there will be more. I wish they would stay on the milkweed (a favorite of theirs) and not come to my little garden.
 
I checked this afternoon. No tomatoes yet on our romas, but there is a little one on our early girl! Yay.
 
I am going to try to grow tomatoes in the shade for the first time this year. Previously I always put them in 100% sun. You can increase the chances of pollination by tapping the flowers with your finger. You're doing the bee's job. Tomatoes flowers can and often self pollinate. Don't be afraid to really vibrate them! You can tap them hard enough they are going back and forth an inch.

Last year I grew cucumbers in the shade, and used a tree as a trellis. If you can't get poles driven in, you could probably wrap them along lines leading to a tree, house, etc.





Woohoo! Early starts to the tomato season!
 
First tomatoes. In the greenhouse, Early Girl.

[Hearth.com] 2018 garden thread!
 
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