2018 garden thread!

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I suspect it will be a couple weeks for the outdoor tomatoes to catch up. They have blossoms, but we are in a cool spell with daytime highs between 60 and 70 and nighttime temps in the low 50's. Our heat loving plants want warmer feet and won't really be happy until nighttime temps are in the 60's. This is also leading to slow germination of some seeds like beans planted outdoors. Potatoes, broccoli, greens on the other hand are growing quickly.
 
You guys have tomatoes already and I just put my seedlings out this week. Got everything planted except squash, one the seedlings have a true leaf started I'll transplant them.
 
It's probably the first time I've ever had tomatoes this far along this early. I'm going to get cold tunnels up this fall. I'd like to extend my growing season out further.
 
To my surprise I discovered our outdoor early girl also has sprouted a new tomato. Let the season begin! It's a amazing how much things have grown in the past 3 weeks.

[Hearth.com] 2018 garden thread! [Hearth.com] 2018 garden thread!
 
Harvested a large collander full of leafy greens for salad tonight. The wife was furiously trying to wash the freckled romaine lettuce and didn't believe me that it was supposed to be that way until I showed her the seed packet.
[Hearth.com] 2018 garden thread!
she refuses salad dressing, so it was too bitter for her. I liked it though!

I think most of America is used to taste less food. Too much iceberg lattice and red delicious apples are sold.
 
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LOL I can honestly say we have never had a head of iceberg lettuce in the house and neither of us likes delicious apples.
 
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When I looked through my seed packets for the wife I came upon the small tomato variety that I planted under the tree. They are "Sweetie" tomatoes. I'm getting blossoms on them now.

Supposedly they do well in the shade. Some are under the peach tree, some are in full sun.
 
EatenByLimestone said:
When I looked through my seed packets for the wife I came upon the small tomato variety that I planted under the tree. They are "Sweetie" tomatoes. I'm getting blossoms on them now.

Supposedly they do well in the shade. Some are under the peach tree, some are in full sun.
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Good to know, I have a bed that gets afternoon shade that I have not planted tomatoes in. I'll be curious about what you think of Sweetie.
 
I'll let you know. I'll give you my kid's take. I'm not a huge fan of uncooked tomatoes. Never understood why though. I'm all over cooked ones.
 
EatenByLimestone said:
I'll let you know. I'll give you my kid's take. I'm not a huge fan of uncooked tomatoes. Never understood why though. I'm all over cooked ones.
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Different taste receptors and maybe personal history. My youngest son doesn't like tomato anything. He's sensitive to most acidic foods.
 
One of the YouTube channels I follow just put up a time lapse of May in his garden. Check out his content. I've learned a lot from him.

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well, I used to have a garden. Hail came through really quick yesterday. The only thing that may have made it was 1 zuchinni plant, the lemon tree, and the lime tree, and 1 tomato that was in the front.
[Hearth.com] 2018 garden thread!
 
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Bummer. I read about that storm. There were some areas with hail larger than golf balls.
 
there was a storm a week or so ago that had softball sized hail. with this one, most of the hail was chickpea sized. It shredded my grill cover too!
 
Ah, maybe that was the one I read about. I winced thinking about our solar panels in a storm like that.
 
The garden is now starting to produce regularly. We are picking zucchinis, peas, early carrots, spinach, lettuce, broccoli, basil and strawberries. The asparagus are done for the year. Corn will definitely be more than knee high by the 4th of July.

[Hearth.com] 2018 garden thread!
 
there is one veg i never planted was carrots. i eat them like candy. i never tried because the soil has to prepared different? how do you prepare your soil for growing carrots?
 
Mostly get the rocks out so the carrots can set deep roots. Add some compost and fertilizer as needed. Other than that they get normal garden prep.
 
fbelec said:
there is one veg i never planted was carrots. i eat them like candy. i never tried because the soil has to prepared different? how do you prepare your soil for growing carrots?
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Depending on the soil that you have, i have found that adding in a bit of sand can help with carrots and beets.
 
Dobish said:
Depending on the soil that you have, i have found that adding in a bit of sand can help with carrots and beets.
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Yes, good point. Carrots grow best in a looser soil. If the soil has a lot of clay then adding a lot of compost and some sand to loosen up the soil to a depth of at least 12" will make a big difference.
 
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[Hearth.com] 2018 garden thread!
Red hot poker bloomed....
 
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thanks. the soil here packs like concrete
 
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