2025 gardens

[DJ54]

I have planted tomatoes that have gotten leggy by laying them down in a shallow trench. Worked great, as the top was standing straight up in a few days. They made some dandy plants, like you say that stem growing roots, but were in the fertile soil in the top 4"-5". Depends on how much room you have to work with though.

 

[sixdogs]

I have planted tomatoes that have gotten leggy by laying them down in a shallow trench. Worked great, as the top was standing straight up in a few days. They made some dandy plants, like you say that stem growing roots, but were in the fertile soil in the top 4"-5". Depends on how much room you have to work with though.

We did the trench way when we lived in a cold climate with short growing season and it worked great. In this warmer climate, we read about just burying the plant straight down and they did much better.

We dig the hole straight down and almost as deep as the plant. We snip off anything but the last few leaves so the top is only out of the ground a couple inches. Then we temporarily hump some dirt near the top of the plant to keep the wind off and keep it warmer. We smooth out when the plant is stronger. We backfill around the plant with good black dirt topsoil.

We put in 11 or 12 plants a year and typically get 450-475 pounds of tomatoes. 425 is about the lowest and 480 the highest amount.

 

[masseyrider]

I bought some strawberry plants.
I'm soaking them overnight before I put them in small pots tomorrow.
They'll be nice size for putting out in May.
Both are everbearing, Ozark and Honeoye.

 

[DJ54]

We had 2 neighbors who raised the "Jewel" strawberry, man were those things good. A June bearing berry and only produced for 2-3 weeks but were the best berry I've ever had. My mouth still waters just thinking about them.

 

[sixdogs]

We had 2 neighbors who raised the "Jewel" strawberry, man were those things good. A June bearing berry and only produced for 2-3 weeks but were the best berry I've ever had. My mouth still waters just thinking about them.

Nothing beats home grown or local grown strawberries. After those, it's hard to eat a commercial strawberry again. We can buy berries fresh from the Amish in June and wife makes a killer fresh (uncooked) strawberry pie. Nothing better.

 

[masseyrider]

We had 2 neighbors who raised the "Jewel" strawberry, man were those things good. A June bearing berry and only produced for 2-3 weeks but were the best berry I've ever had. My mouth still waters just thinking about them.

Used to be a variety called Red Coat when I was a kid.
In those days many small growers grew strawberries for the shippers.
The Red Coats were bleeders and not that big but when they were really ripe you couldn't beat the taste.
At the end of the season the ladies would come out to pick for jam. Almost everyone did their own preserves back then.
The best part was riding your bike around and you knew where all the berry patches where by the aroma wafting out.

 

[sixdogs]

Used to be a variety called Red Coat when I was a kid.
In those days many small growers grew strawberries for the shippers.
The Red Coats were bleeders and not that big but when they were really ripe you couldn't beat the taste.
At the end of the season the ladies would come out to pick for jam. Almost everyone did their own preserves back then.
The best part was riding your bike around and you knew where all the berry patches where by the aroma wafting out.

Fresh made homemade strawberry jam is so good it will spoil you for life. There is no factory made jam that can compete.


My cousin grows Concord grapes in western NY State and when the grapes are ripening in late September it's a 30 mile ride on Rt 20 with an enveloping smell that makes you roll all the windows down. What a great aroma.

With real food tasting and smelling this good, I don't get the attraction with factory food, artificial everything and Red Dye food coloring?

 

[CloverKnollFarms]

We have peppers and cabbage up. Still waiting on tomatoes

 

[part-time-Farmer-NC]

I bought 500 sweet Charlie strawberry plants a couple of years. Down here we plant them in the fall for the following springs season. I usually do this every couple of years. When ripe, I assign various family members a day to pick and they will get 20-30# a pick. Have to be picked every two days. We take 2 pickings and freeze them, cook many things, freeze dry and even dehydrate em. Our stock is running low so this fall will be a planting session for em.

My problem is remembering to put the order in on time. You snooze, you loose...

Planted the rest of my taters. I have 3 rows @ 125'. I did my corn a little different. Instead of a single or double row in a 5 foot row spacing, I planted them about 6-10" apart 5 across. I am planning to hook up the drip in about a week or so. The idea is maybe they won't get wind damaged. we'll see.

Planting tomatoes, cabbage, squash and Watermelons this week.

Its normally way early for watermelons but we have gotten hot pretty quick, supposed to be about 90 Fri and Sat.

May have missed the window for my lettuce transplants, if it stays hot they'll bolt for sure.

 

[DJ54]

Tomatoes germinated in 60 hours. First pic is yesterday just before noon. Second picture is 24 hours later. Amazing how fast they can grow. Probably should have put them in the greenhouse last evening, but tractor club meeting ran a little late, and was raining pretty good by the time I got the feeding done. Hopefully they won't get too leggy.

Ones on the second shelf weren't getting as much light so moved them up after taking the ones off the top shelf. Should be big enough to put in the greenhouse here in a bit.

Will have to put them in the heated shop on Mon. & Tue. night as they are calling for a low of 25º Mon. and 27º Tue. overnight. Temps look to be reasonable the rest of the week.