Gardening

[forgeblast]

I have only used them a few times but when I did I just put dirt along the outside edges. If you want to make hoops to keep the row cover off your plants you can buy a fairly heavy gauge wire at Home Depot pretty cheap. It is with the chainlink fencing and comes in a roll. Just cut pieces long enough to form hoops of the correct height with enough 'leg' to push into the soil.

Thanks thats a great idea.....I can use clothes pins to keep them on.
thanks again.

 

[LRTX1]

Well, I got the garden planted this week. Just the normal vegies for me. A lot of okra, little crookneck yellow squash, straight 8 cukes, Congo watermelons, bell peppers, and some Ichiban Eggplant.

I much prefer the Ichibans over the larger ones like the Black Beauties. It seems like they are a lot less bitter and contain fewer seeds.

I decided this year to use drip line "tape" for irrigation, so far it seems to work great. I'll start to run a water soluble fertilizer through it next week some time.

 

[jinman]

Just to be clear, I think the corn gluten meal is used primarily as a weed and feed. Fungal control is from whole corn meal.

Thanks for correcting me, Jeff. You are exactly right.

I got my planting hills/rows all laid out and started planting yesterday. It's been so wet that I couldn't get into the garden, but things finally dried out this week. I've had broccoli, cauliflower, and cabbage growing in my hothouse and set them all out yesterday. I also planted snowpeas and sweet peas plus purple hulls and two rows of bush beans. Earlier this week, my wife and I set out about 100 onions and planted another 100 onion bulbs for purple and 1015 onions. We also set out chives I had grown in the hothouse. I'm holding off on tomatoes and peppers because of the forecast for weather to change this weekend. I'll also plant okra and melons during the first week of April.

Last night a front moved through and we got a little over 1/2" of rain and sleet this morning. It's now 32 degrees, down from yesterday's mid-70s, and my decks are covered in ice. I made the right decision about not setting out tomatoes or peppers.:thumbsup: As long as I get them into the ground by the first of April, they will be fine.

 

[Tongy]

We have peppers and some early tomatoes up about 2 inches. You need to keep the lights right down on top of them so they don't get spindly.
The garden was just drying out and ready to work and then last night we got 4 inches of snow and more to come today. UGH
I did run the spike tooth harrow over the pasture Thursday to bust up the cow and horse poop.

 

[Bartcephus]

The weekend before last, I thought I would set my starter flat outside during the day. It was in the 60's and a sunny day. I was shocked when that afternoon I came back to take them inside and my tomatoes turned white and wilted. ??? This last week the watermelon plants laid down and passed too. Oh well, I guess I learned my lesson.

I didn't get to do any gardening this last weekend as the rain/snow/sleet kept everything to wet. The disked fields look nice and inviting but I know better than to go out there and get stuck.

I'll be planting some starters and seeds right before the first of April.... weather permiting....

 

[Bartcephus]

Easter weekend was a busy weekend. I had a holiday from the daily normal employment for Good Friday. Tilled up the small garden with a walk behind tiller. Raked and leveled out the garden and planted twenty tomato plants, about a dozen squash, (some plants some seeds), watermelon, cucumbers, pepper plants, (plants and seeds). Had to go to a wedding near my folks hometown on Saturday so I didn't get to work the garden there, but did do a lot of yard work for the parents. Hope to get to the garden this weekend and plant the peas, beans, corn, and more squash, cucumbers, watermelon and peppers. Just hoping that the weather holds out.....

 

[lakngulf]

I took a look at our 10 day forecast and the lowest temp showing was 44 so on Saturday and Sunday I planted a dozen Celebrity and a dozen Better Boy tomato plants that I had started January 31. After they sprouted I transplanted to 4 inch peat pots, and began giving them miracle gro about three weeks ago. They looked pretty good. I had all kinds of trouble with tomatoes last year, so this year I

(1) have new soil I brought in from the farm--compost from the area where cows were fed hay about 6-8 years ago
(2) will plant marigolds all around the tomatoes
(3) places milk carton sections, or plastic coffee cup sections, around each plant, with a little of the carton extending above the soil
(4) may try the corn meal thing as well

Early March I started some zuchinni and yellow squash indoors, and put them out this weekend as well. Put contender bush bean and okra seed in the ground. Also, started some indoors to fill in the ones that do not come up.

Yellow dust from the pine trees means springtime.

 

[lakngulf]

Here are some shots of my new spot to grow tomatoes. I was trying to get maximum sunlight.

 

[Mousefield]

lakngulf, Looks great, all that hard work shows. I am wondering about the plants on the dock, will they get much more sunlight than normal due to the sun reflecting off the water?

 

[lakngulf]

They will certainly get more warmth out there, which will help during the early growing season. But, their exposure could hurt if we were to have a late cold spell.

My garden spot has some pretty good sunlight during late spring and summer, with sun straight up, BUT I have many large trees on south side of the garden that shade it during parts of the day at other times. The mater boxes are getting sun almost all day now.