Gardens for 2021 season

[DJ54]

I have a couple buddies who built germination chambers out of non-working fridge's/freezer. Put a small 1-1/2-2 qt crockpot filled with water in the bottom for heat and moisture, controlled by a heat mat thermostat, and a LED growlight panel.

I didn't want a full sized fridge, so put out a want ad on local FB pages for a free mini fridge, out of a camper. Got a response within 10 hours for the perfect one, just taken out of a motor home. Ownser said they took it to a dealer, and apparently the gas leaked out, so instead of repairing, just bought a new one.

I cut all the refridgeration system off of it to lighten it up. Bored a 1-1/2" hole through the back to run power cords through, then packed the hole with duct seal. Placed the crockpot filled with water in, and connected to the thermostat, and turned it on. After 2 hours, it was seting on the perfect 75º. I then put the grow light panel in, and within 1 hour, temp inside had reached 116º. I plugged the grow light into the thermostat, and within a minute, the light had put out enough heat, the thermostat shut it off, set @ 75º. Didn't realize an LED light put off that much heat. Feels barely warm to the touch, but in an enclosed, insulated compartment it does.

Went to plan B. Found a 12" 13.5 watt grow light at a local big box store. Plugged it in and left it for 2 hrs. It reached a near perfect 77º. I used one of the produce drawers from the fridge to put water in for moisture, hoping it would evaporate providing moisture. Within 2 hrs. it got to 80º, and using a digital thermometer that also shows humidity, it was at 76%. By 9:00 pm last night temp had gotten to 82.2. By 11:00 pm, it had went back to 80º. I'll check this later morning for humidity level.

Doing a quick search yesterday morning found most seeds prefer 65º-85º, and humidity levels from 50%, up to 95%, so I'm in the ball park.

I put small trays of various seeds in it yesterday afternoon to see some results. My one buddy is germing onions in 48 hrs., lettuce in 36 hrs in his. I put bunching onions for green onions, several different pepper seeds, and a couple different types of cabbage, and some Yucca plant seeds I harvested last Fall from the plant in the yard, to see how long it takes to come up, hopefully speeding the germination process especially the pepper seeds. Once up, I'll transfer to my little greenhouse.

Need to find my Rhubarb and Asparagus seed and try that too today. I'll put the date and time on the little marker sticks when I set them in, to determin in hours, instead of days of plant growth.

 

[Sonny580]

got the 18 bunches of onion plants in just as rain started so they got watered in good. now to see how many grow. Ended up with 3 long rows across the south garden.
some of the seeds came up in the flats ----- centers didnt but that will make plenty of plants for the early planting. Later I will start more in the outdoor hotbed for the main crop stuff. --- still too cold here to get much going.
And the helper---he rode behind me on the creeper for 3 hours while I planted onions.

 

[Sonny580]

Our onion rows are 230' long. The potato rows will be 245' long in the North garden.
Hope to plant on good Friday or the hundredth day ---- have always had good luck doing that.
This is our homemade planter I made 35 years ago and still use it.
One person rides and drops the pieces behind the front shovel and the disk hillers on the back covers the row up. saves the old spine, which aint doing too good anyway! We pull it with either the cc147 or one of the sunstar 20's. Hydro drive is a must on it so you can move slow.

 

[kenmbz]

I am trying a mini garden this year and leaving the bigger garden to the wife's flowers and grasses.
Will do spices, tomatoes, radishes and a few other easy to grow types and maybe spread out more next year.
Tractor was great to get dirt to cart and lawn tractor to get cart to raised beds. 7foot riser and some wire should hopefully keep the deer at bay.

 

[Sonny580]

HEY!!! You got my wagon??? --- LOL! I love mine and old sunstar 20 plays with it and all the dirt I can pile on it!

 

[Sonny580]

got the spuds planted today ----well the ones here--up north is still too wet so gotta wait on them. We planted 180 pounds here. used my old homemade planter and one of the old sunstars to pull it.
Had 10 rows 240 feet long.

 

[Sonny580]

Interesting weather here for the last week! 2" of snow, a couple nights of frost and still chilly, this coming week they are forecasting 80"s for us! Looks like fruit tree blossoms are froze, so no fruit for the third year in a row! Strawberries look iffy, so cant really tell much about them yet.
A few plants in the hotbed are coming up and all thats up in the gardens is a few beets, radishes, and turnips. ---- Onions are doing fine! A half dozen potato sprouts were peeking up and got froze off,----they will regrow.
fruit trees were in full bloom when it froze so really dont think they will make fruit.---time will tell.

 

[Bearsixty7]

Had a close one here last week, we were just inside the frost zone of the cold front until the night before then they showed us just inside the freeze zone. We got blankets or covers on all the plants and looks like we stayed just warm enough. Then the hail came came Friday and broke a couple plants and bent a few over so will see if they recover. Good news is the majority appear to have faired pretty well.
We have about 8-10 tomatoes already.

 

[Thomas]

Since it's just Mrs. and me she like to down size garden under 60% and grow just the basic around the house...I am more than fine with that.

 

[SylvainG]

Had a close one here last week, we were just inside the frost zone of the cold front until the night before then they showed us just inside the freeze zone. We got blankets or covers on all the plants and looks like we stayed just warm enough. Then the hail came came Friday and broke a couple plants and bent a few over so will see if they recover. Good news is the majority appear to have faired pretty well.
We have about 8-10 tomatoes already.

Read in the news today that France had an exceptional freeze early April. They mentioned that the frost made 4,5 billions in damage to crops and winery.

 

[Sonny580]

Still frosts here---sposed to be warm-up starting tomorrow, so hang on to your fanny! summer is about to hit!! lol!

 

[kenmbz]

First Radish here, but it's been chilly. Next set of Tomatoes and Peppers is supposed to arrive tomorrow for planting.
Pears/peaches etc. are starting to get large enough to see, but last year were all gone before ripe. Wildlife is always grabbing stuff, why I have a 7foot fence around my little raised garden.

 

[hube2]

Still frosts here---sposed to be warm-up starting tomorrow, so hang on to your fanny! summer is about to hit!! lol!

I cann't safely plant here until after Memorial day and I tend to wait until first weekend in June. I have seen frosts through end of May no matter what my weather man/woman says. I would have liked to have it ready for planting by now but it's been too wet to get the tilling done. Looks like it's going to get a late start this year. I need to get some seeds started, mostly quash and cukes because they do not germinate well when planted directly. I generally buy some stuff started in a local greenhouse.

Hoping for some decent weather so I can start getting it ready this weekend.

I don't have as big a garden as some of you folks, it's about 50x100 feet. We grow enough of the things we grow so I don't need to buy those things. Tomatoes, corn, broccoli, cukes, peppers, several kinds of squash. The rest depends on how I'm feeling each year. Maybe some cabbage if I'm running low on sauerkraut. I also leave some room for my father in law to put in whatever he feels like adding. I've had the garden in the same place for 24 years.

Here's a picture of it from google, you can see my FIL in it digging potatoes, the white dot in about the middle is something in his hands. The image is from several years ago but you can tell it was late in the year, the shadows are getting long, you can see the pumpkins, most of the other stuff is dead and the weeds around the edges are getting tall.

 

[herm0016]

We have been harvesting lettuce from the greenhouse for a couple weeks. We got several inches of snow and freezing temps last few nights. We had a bunny sleepover on Sat. Night, so we will see if sugar is pregnant is about a week. Got rid of or jerk rooster to make room for a maren rooster that is about 6 weeks old. We also have 17 other chicks and 5 turkeys. Broccoli, onions, garlic, radishes, spinach, beets, potatoes, cabbage, in the raised beds under row covers. Peas in the ground. About 300 seedlings awaiting this cold spell in the green house and our office. looking good for a nice fruit harvest, it appears it was not quite cold enough to kill the apple/pear/cherry buds. The greenhouse is a game changer.

 

[SylvainG]

I cann't safely plant here until after Memorial day and I tend to wait until first weekend in June. I have seen frosts through end of May no matter what my weather man/woman says. I would have liked to have it ready for planting by now but it's been too wet to get the tilling done. Looks like it's going to get a late start this year. I need to get some seeds started, mostly quash and cukes because they do not germinate well when planted directly. I generally buy some stuff started in a local greenhouse.

Hoping for some decent weather so I can start getting it ready this weekend.

I don't have as big a garden as some of you folks, it's about 50x100 feet. We grow enough of the things we grow so I don't need to buy those things. Tomatoes, corn, broccoli, cukes, peppers, several kinds of squash. The rest depends on how I'm feeling each year. Maybe some cabbage if I'm running low on sauerkraut. I also leave some room for my father in law to put in whatever he feels like adding. I've had the garden in the same place for 24 years.

Here's a picture of it from google, you can see my FIL in it digging potatoes, the white dot in about the middle is something in his hands. The image is from several years ago but you can tell it was late in the year, the shadows are getting long, you can see the pumpkins, most of the other stuff is dead and the weeds around the edges are getting tall.

Yep, although I'm higher up (latitude wise) than you, we also wait until first weekend of June to plant.

 

[Sonny580]

Strawberries are actually setting some green ones, so not all of the flowers got froze. Might have a small crop yet.

 

[hube2]

It was nice this past weekend and for the first time in years I have my garden ready to plant well ahead of time. I may actually get the corn started early since a late frost isn't likely to hurt it.

 

[Sonny580]

soil temps here are WAY too cold for seeds. Have replanted some of the stuff 2 times and still nothing. Either too cold or I have soil insects attacking the seed! Anyway I will try 1 more time after it dries up and warms up and see what happens.

 

[hube2]

soil temps here are WAY too cold for seeds. Have replanted some of the stuff 2 times and still nothing. Either too cold or I have soil insects attacking the seed! Anyway I will try 1 more time after it dries up and warms up and see what happens.

Insects is one of the reasons I have to start all of my squash and cukes in pots. Once upon a time they treated all seeds with fungicides and pesticides to help protect the seeds until germination. The bugs in my garden seem to really like hollowing out my squash seeds. The corn seed I get is still treated. The farmers are all planting their corn here, not that it's an indication of being time to plant, but corn can handle cooler soil temps.

 

[oldballs]

Besides being below average temps, it has rained ....rained ....and rained..... 2 inches several days ago and 3.8 inches last Sunday. My nicely tilled garden is a 50 X 100 mud hole. There is rain forecast everyday for over a week....to some percentage.

Besides that.....I need cataract surgery and a heart stress test to be done........... But I'm still hopeful to get a few things planted....when it dries out.

Cheers,
Mike