How does your garden grow?

[Larro Darro]

I got out early and cut the south half the garden again. We have had just enough rain to pack it pretty good. I planted cucumbers, Pink Eye Purple Hull peas, Silver Queen sweet corn and Crimson Sweet melons. Then toward the west end of the garden I put in my Eastern section. I planted Asian pole beans and field corn together, then some cucumbers from Iraq. Margie's old boss from when she worked at the Agriculture Extension Office was pretty high up in the National Guard, and spent a lot of time in Iraq. Then when he retired from that, he did a stint for the State Department over there. These cucumbers are supposed to be pretty long.



We got a nice rain about lunchtime. Not too hard. Just enough to wet all the seeds good. Tomorrow I'll cut and plant the north side of the garden, and the gourd patch.

Larro

 

[dave1949]

One top end of my raised beds appeared out of the snow recently. The beds are 18" tall. It may be a bit yet before we plant. :laughing:

I do like raised beds for things like lettuce, onions, radishes, carrots. Staked tomatoes still take some room but I sucker them regularly. I have some finished compost to put in the beds this spring, I feed them with peat, composted manure and household compost every year.

 

[vtsnowedin]

One top end of my raised beds appeared out of the snow recently. The beds are 18" tall. It may be a bit yet before we plant. :laughing:

I do like raised beds for things like lettuce, onions, radishes, carrots. Staked tomatoes still take some room but I sucker them regularly. I have some finished compost to put in the beds this spring, I feed them with peat, composted manure and household compost every year.

Ever try compost "tea"? I've been reading about it on another forum.

 

[Larro Darro]

Last week when I planted my green beans in the north part of the garden, I must have missed half a row, or the seeds were no good. Since we know how my memory works, I'm not going to try blaming the seeds. Anyway I planted half a row of blue lake green beans. Then did a couple of rows of straight neck squash.



Over in the gourd patch I planted {store bought} Bird House gourds, and {saved} snake gourds. I think I have more drinking gourd seeds in freezer, but gave out of time today. Tomorrow is still a good planting day, so we will see how it goes.



I also planted a few grapevines, but it's late, so I'll try to post some of those pictures tomorrow night.

Larro

 

[dave1949]

Ever try compost "tea"? I've been reading about it on another forum.

I've heard of manure tea but never tried it. I guess it's for times when the nutrients of the manure are wanted, but not the patties/berries/apples/whatevers?

 

[DFB]

Ever try compost "tea"? I've been reading about it on another forum.

I've heard of manure tea but never tried it. I guess it's for times when the nutrients of the manure are wanted, but not the patties/berries/apples/whatevers?

My uncle, my mothers brother, used make manure tea with a cloth bag of aged cow manure suspended in an old oil drum of water and used to ladel that on his tomato plants right up to harvest!

Of course that practice would probably never fly well with GAP or todays NOP or FSMA standards

Compost and liquid application can be used thru out the growing season though and there are written regulation describing the proper procedures to be found online.

 

[Sawyer Rob]

Ever try compost "tea"? I've been reading about it on another forum.

We've made it, used it and it works well... You can make it out many different things, not just manure...

SR

 

[JPRambo]

I was at my north Georgia property last weekend. The wife and I planted a couple of grape plants, 10 strawberry plants, some bush beans, carrots and corn, broad cast some butterfly and hummingbird flower seeds and about 100 flower bulbs,. It rained Friday night and we planted Saturday during the rains. I hope all this is not wasted because we will not be there again for 6 to 8 weeks. We would really like to see some summer colors when we go there.

 

[Larro Darro]

It was a cold, blustery day here, so I spent a couple of hours transplanting tomato and pepper sprouts into cups this morning. When I did get outside I planted some saved seeds from the big melon Mamma grew last year and an old package of Banana Cantaloupe I found in my seed bag {I have some saved seeds from 2013, but they didn't turn out great last year}. There were no dipper gourd seeds in the freezer so I used the one that was stuck in the fence for seed. It had broke when I rolled up the wire, but the hole was facing down, so it hadn't got rained in. We will see if I have some weird snake/dipper gourd hybrid. A four foot dipper gourd? That would be pretty cool.



When I came in I still had a little time a little time before we went out to supper, so I planted a few pepper seeds. I have pepper coming out my ears, but I had bought cayenne and Anaheim Chili's so I put a few of each in soil. I also planted a few saved seeds. One of the customers at Sister's job {Oglesby Plants International} had gave her a whole basket of several kinds of peppers last year. We didn't know the name, and I just called these Long Green. Also planted Cubanelle seeds from Jackson Farms. When we would go to the fields to pick peppers I would make sure I had water so I could wash the peppers and eat them in the field. A very mild pepper with size enough for stuffing.



Larro

 

[Larro Darro]

Yesterday I started planting grapevines, and continued today. These are vines I started from seeds year before last. I put them 16' apart, on each side of the trail going to the graveyard. The plan is to lay down a waterline right in the trail, then put a few spigots off each side. That part will have to wait for now. It's taking a while just to get the vines in the ground.



That's a lot of pictures. I stepped off the distance, flagged the spots, then dug out a circle of sod. Using post hole diggers I put five gallons of dirt into a bucket, then added a shovel full of recycled potting soil and a handful of 13-13-13. Setting the plant in place, I shook out the dirt from the sod, {There was lots of worms in the sod} then used the dirt in the bucket around the edge of the hole. A little water and I was off to the next one. I have three kinds of grapevines from last year that are just sprouting now.

Larro