Garden Thread 2018

FrostyEgg

Any of you fellow Eggheads into gardening? I started this year's seeds a few weeks ago. No raised bed or anything yet so i'm keeping it to the essentials we use a lot. This year we're running tomatoes, zucchini, cilantro, parsley, jalapeños, and habaneros.

First time running habaneros. We'll see how they do up in Minnesota.

Gulfcoastguy

My garden is already planted except for sweet potatoes. I live just a wee bit south of you though. Jalapeños, two types of habaneros, 2 types of sweet peppers, cukes, zukes, squash, and watermelons this year. 

JohnnyTarheel

We are getting our tomato, squash and cucumber plants this week to put in gallon pots for a couple weeks. Then we will move them to the raised beds first week of May...  ready for spring here!!

FrostyEgg

Gulfcoastguy said:

My garden is already planted except for sweet potatoes. I live just a wee bit south of you though. Jalapeños, two types of habaneros, 2 types of sweet peppers, cukes, zukes, squash, and watermelons this year. 

We still have the last of the snow on the ground. We got pounded last weekend. It's been a brutal winter.

Rascal

Got the 'mater seeds started over a month ago and now they've been put into 3" natural fiber pots.  Next they'll go outdoors when the temp is right.  Can taste 'em now!!~~

Gulfcoastguy

FrostyEgg said:

Gulfcoastguy said:

My garden is already planted except for sweet potatoes. I live just a wee bit south of you though. Jalapeños, two types of habaneros, 2 types of sweet peppers, cukes, zukes, squash, and watermelons this year. 

We still have the last of the snow on the ground. We got pounded last weekend. It's been a brutal winter.

Oh and 4 types of tomatoes. We do have to run around putting pots over plants a week ago. There was a light frost nearly 3 weeks later than usual. Mother Nature has mood swings.

lkapigian

Calling @Chubbs

Not really a garden, but I keep up the flower beds

GrateEggspectations

lkapigian said:

Calling @Chubbs

Not really a garden, but I keep up the flower beds

@lkapigian: That lawn is fantastically lush and thick. What is your secret?

MaskedMarvel

Slow, yeeeaaaaars transformation in our backyard... but the garden includes this new addition:

We are hoping it lasts 20 years... ASPARAGUS!

lkapigian

GrateEggspectations said:

lkapigian said:

Calling @Chubbs

Not really a garden, but I keep up the flower beds

@lkapigian: That lawn is fantastically lush and thick. What is your secret?

Thanks @GrateEggspectations regular feedings preemergance etc, I have a company called The Weed Man that comes throughout the year, money well,spent so,I don't have the think about it

GrateEggspectations

lkapigian said:

GrateEggspectations said:

lkapigian said:

Calling @Chubbs

Not really a garden, but I keep up the flower beds

@lkapigian: That lawn is fantastically lush and thick. What is your secret?

Thanks @GrateEggspectations regular feedings preemergance etc, I have a company called The Weed Man that comes throughout the year, money well,spent so,I don't have the think about it

I’m jealous. That is a beautiful lawn (and flowe beds too)!

fishlessman

5 weeks before planting but i have crannberries, chives, thyme, mint, horseradish, and asparagus coming up. think i lost the kale this year. thinned back the high bush blueberries this weekend and pushed some garlic into the ground for next year.  raised beds are ready for a may planting, its amazing what comes out off three 42 inch diameter beds

Gulfcoastguy

My blueberries should be ready to pick within a month. I might make an attempt at canning salsa and pickles this year. I should have plenty of hot peppers, cucumbers, and tomatoes. I also heard of Cowboy Candy this past winter, sweet pickled jalapeño slices. 

fishlessman

Gulfcoastguy said:

My blueberries should be ready to pick within a month. I might make an attempt at canning salsa and pickles this year. I should have plenty of hot peppers, cucumbers, and tomatoes. I also heard of Cowboy Candy this past winter, sweet pickled jalapeño slices. 

buy the jalapenos  and some Mrs. Wages® Bread and Butter pickle mix.  you want these for burgers now

SciAggie

I follow these threads closely. Now that construction is done on the structure of the outdoor kitchen, my wife and I are turning to the yard. We want to build some raised beds for gardening and install a new flower bed. I get a ton of runoff from my roof so we are also looking at water management ideas.

fishlessman

SciAggie said:

I follow these threads closely. Now that construction is done on the structure of the outdoor kitchen, my wife and I are turning to the yard. We want to build some raised beds for gardening and install a new flower bed. I get a ton of runoff from my roof so we are also looking at water management ideas.

if you put enough mulch type material in the raised bed and have some of the runnoff go under it, it might work out. my three raised beds sit on a spring and i do not need to water it much at all. last summer i never watered it, the water sucks up from the bottom. i plant the tomatoes deep enough that the hole starts to pool up when they get planted.  my tomato cages are 8 feet tall at the end of august and some plants will go 12 foot.  i do everything wrong, plants are packed to close,  way over packed, 6 tomato plants, several heads of cabbage and kale, bush string beans, a few cucumber plants, herbs, all in each 42 inch circular raised bed. i never trim or top off the tomatoes, will get several dozen quarts of sauce per season. i start with the tallest cages they make, then wiretie more cages upsidown to the tops mid season and we have a very short growing season here.

AlbertaEgger

I will try and refrain from opening this post again till we are closer to planting the garden. It is going to be a beautiful week here which should move things along but this was last week... 

My list for this year though

Beets

carrots

chives

broccoli

radish

cucumber

peas

brussel sprouts (anyone do these)?

assortment of peppers

no potatoes this year again

Gulfcoastguy

fishlessman said:

Gulfcoastguy said:

My blueberries should be ready to pick within a month. I might make an attempt at canning salsa and pickles this year. I should have plenty of hot peppers, cucumbers, and tomatoes. I also heard of Cowboy Candy this past winter, sweet pickled jalapeño slices. 

buy the jalapenos  and some Mrs. Wages® Bread and Butter pickle mix.  you want these for burgers now

The fun is as much in the planning and making as in the eating. I can buy Wickle's Pickles across the street. Several years ago I made hot kosher dill pickles with:cucumbers, hot Korean Purple garlic, and Thai Hot peppers all grown in the garden. I am considering fermenting some dill pickles if I can can them for long term storage. I can't seem to find any dill seedlings in the store though and dill seed is expensive.

fishlessman

i can grow the jalenos but getting the plants to produce enough is pretty hard here, i need to stick with cayenne and thai to get any quantity.  with dill, i think you need to plant some every few weeks, never tried to grow it here.

Gulfcoastguy

Hmmm? A dill plant search expedition sound like a good way to burn a retirement Monday. Better then pruning the neighbors bushes that are hanging over my fence anyway.

fishlessman

finally warm enough to plant,  3 san marzano,  6 cherokee purples, 1 early girl, 1 celebrity mater, 6 thai peppers, 6 cayenne peppers, 6 ghost peppers, 6 basils, and the oregano, thyme, and chives that survived the winter.  i dont read the spacing requirements on the labels anymore just amazed how much can grow in a raised bed

SonVolt

This is my 1st year doing everything from seed. No more giving Lowe's almost $4 a pop per plant.  So far so good, everything popped right up and transplanted to the garden just fine. 








Doing a new trellising system this year for the tomatoes using T-Posts and string. So far so good... much easier than dealing with tomato cages. 

fishlessman

@SonVolt

i might try that trellising system this year,  some of my plants hit 12 feet last year and what a pain with the cages, sticks, wireties, rope etc.

SonVolt

fishlessman said:

@SonVolt

i might try that trellising system this year,  some of my plants hit 12 feet last year and what a pain with the cages, sticks, wireties, rope etc.

Yup, mine always grew over the top of the cages and flopped over into a big mess. This string method works great because you can always cut a strand where needed and tie a new one as they grow. With cages you couldn't do that, you were kinda stuck. If you didn't catch a stray branch fast enough you couldn't always get it back inside the cage without risk of breaking it trying to bend it back in.  This alleviates all that. 

fence0407

Here is what I have in my garden: 2 blueberry bushes (first year getting fruit), 2 raised beds that have zucchini, multiple peppers, tomatoes, onions, watermelon and cantaloupe. Also had cabbage, cilantro and spinach but they've all gone to seed now that it is hot out. I've also added 4 daylilies and had 4 orange lilies until the rabbits ate them (at least they left me one!) My mom is a Master Gardener so she helps me out. I'll try and get a few pictures.

pgprescott

Peppers and maters. Plenty

smbishop

We have some land in Central TX, planted 3 gardens, with a bunch of stuff, this one shows the corn blooming, and a bunch of squash as well.  Nothing fancy, love to garden!

Eoin

Things started off slow this year in the UK. Cold and very wet through into April with waterlogged ground where we are (flat and heavy clay). The weather warmed up late, but really warmed up and we've had steady warm, dry and sunny weather since April. The tomatoes and chillies went in late, but grew fast and we picked the first few tomatoes today. This is 1 month ahead of schedule. Chillies are fruiting already as well, not ripe though. The hot dry weather seems to have kept the tomato growth under control as well - there has been less green growth and more fruit.

Gulfcoastguy

I have some pictures that I will post tonight. Let’s just say that I have a surplus of chiles right now. I have been running the dehydrator for 3 days and will be pickling tomorrow.

dharley

 At my last house I had a large garden. 25x75 feet. The soil here is sand. So I built these raised beds this year from pallets. They are filled with a base layer of rotten fire wood. Then a foot or so of cow manure compost and dirt. This is by far the best garden I've ever grown. The plants are over the fence now. Fruit everywhere. 

Gulfcoastguy

Here's a few pictures.