What's going on with your Veggie Garden Today?

Wow, those beets look great as does everyhing else.

Cocoa-thanks for the info.

I'm eyeing that squash plant! Is it too late for me to try to sow seeds for 1 or 2 (ONLY) squash plants? I'm hoping to built a squash trellis and direct the plant upwards.

Not too late for summer squash. They can be planted at staggered times for extended harvest. Shouldn't be too late for winter squash, but I haven't grow them, so I can't say for sure.

Those beets look great, Texas! I'm going to grow beets during the winter this year. If it's as mild as it was last winter, they should do well.

Thanks, David. What do you think of that Squash Teepee? It keeps the plant nice and compact, and growing vertically (Long as it's not a vining type squash!)

TRock, you direct sowed the beet seeds around mid-January?

Its not too late for summer or winter squash. The challenge there is getting it started if its too cold or too hot outside. So you should be fine. Ive started pumpkins in August (direct sowed) so they would be ready for Halloween.

I transplanted pepper plants today. There are six Aleppos and 18 various non-bell sweets. Also replanted green beans--the first planting was mostly leveled by cucumber beetles and various worms. A dusting with Sevin powder knocked the bugs back, but there were huge gaps in the rows. I also tried transplanting some yellow squash seedlings that were too close into gaps in other hills. Since I would have thinned them anyway there's nothing lost. Finally, since many seem to have good luck transplanting cucumbers, I started some 'Pickle Bush' cucumbers in peat pellets. It was supposed to rain today, but it looks like we missed any substantial rain.

Pic taken from the front porch of the log cabin this morning when I returned from feeding the animals and checking on the garden around 8:00 am.

So, did you catch him for the Easter feast?

Couldn't catch the turkey.

I just finished putting out 70 gallons of "Medina Hasta Grow for Plants" mix.

Any corn growers out their. There are little side shoots or suckers coming up at ground level. What I do with these?

Edited - Here is what I found on corn suckers, http://www.agry.purdue.edu/ext/corn/news/articles.03/Tillers-0623.html

This message was edited Apr 8, 2012 2:47 PM

This morning I removed the oak leaves that was serving as mulch for the onions and put them in one of the furrows. As you can see the onions are starting to bulb out so it won't be long now until harvest.

Check out the photo with the coffe cup...pulled a few thinnings from the bed where I had planted the smaller plants of the lot at 2" spacing back in January.

1 - 3. A tiny tomato plant from a seed sown from a pkt of Rambling Red Stripe. Twas a tiny but healthy seedling from the get-go....still tiny. Could this be a miniature or dwarf, perhaps?

4. Indian Stripe

5. JD's Special C-Tex

texas - the longest day this year is June 20th. Will your onions complete their growth around this date? Mine are usually ready around June 28th.

I ask because I thought onions were day-length sensitive, which to me means, all onions should bulb around the longest day of the year. Or, I could just be confused! LOL

Honey, that's interesting information, did not know that about length of day and onions. Texas, yours are looking really good, no bulbs showing on mine yet. The garlic stems are starting to brown though.

This is OT but does anyone here know when to plant tomatillo's? DH recently got interested in whipping up batches of green salsa - he discovered the food processor!! - and it would be good to get some growing. I can check my calendars but while I was here, thought I'd ask.

bee, I pulled my onions last year around the middle of may. I cured them spread out on the ground under a shed for two weeks. I then cut the stems an inch above the bulb and stored then on baby bed springs suspended from the floor joists under my log cabin. A few were left late November early December and they started to sprout. Of the approx 200 onions I harvested last year I lost only about 10 - 15 to rot.

This years crop seems to be on that same track.

Mary - I'm not sure my information is correct about onions bulbing around the longest day. I'm hoping texasrockgarden will have the answer.

Hmmm.... looking back, I seem to remember not being able to grow onions at all in south Florida because the day length was too short!

Newer varieties might be able to grow there now.

I know there are short day, intermediate day, and long day onions. I'm just confused as to how the onions know where they are!

Mary, Tomatillos like HOT soil to germinate. Once they germinate they grow really fast. You can start them by direct sowing but I start them inside. If kept warm enough they will germinate in 1-2 days then they take off. I had some that I sowed and tried to pot up 1 month later. They were too big and some broke. Pot them up just like a tomato plant, deep they will grow roots along the stem. However, they are not self fertile. Another words you need more then 1 plant if u want fruit. The more plants the better and plant them close to each other.

1-2. Southern Night tomato from volunteer that came up in November 2011. I had cleaned out old wood shavings from the hen house and dumped a pile in an old garden area. Three of the plants that came up around the pile of chicken fines were potted up to gal containers and wintered over. This spring more seed germinated around that same pile of chicken fines so I started watering them. They are now blooming. :) Looks like tomato seeds process just fine through chickens. (wink)

3. Rambling Red Stripe

4. Three Tasti-Lee F1 plants

5. Here is what happens when side dress too close and with too much fertilizer. The beets feeder roots were burned off. Even though there are signs of new growth these plants will probably not make beets in time for when I pull the other plants. They will come out and go to the chickens so the space can be used for cantaloupes and maybe a squash plant or two. And maybe one more very late tomato seedling I have coming along.

Just what is a tomatillo? I see em all the time, but never knew. Are they a type of tomato? And how do you cook them?

Thx.

They're green tomatoes that are used to make tomatillo sauce (green sauce).

They are husk tomatoes, not related to a tomato at all. They are related to Ground Cherries. Ive read that they can take a long time to germinate I have not found this at all. The grow like weeds!

This morning I fenced off an area where hubby has been removing running bamboo. I ended up with roughly a 25ft x 25ft area where I plan to grow summer squash, zucchini and small pumpkins. The fence is to keep the dogs out!

The soil in this area is much better than that in the main garden, so should not need amendments, just organic fertilizer.

My DG subscription is expiring tomorrow. I may post a thread over on the "High Yield Gardening Discussion Forum" since it's free. Otherwise I am going to be gardening instead of spending so much time on the Internet.

Canning season is just around the corner....so.

I will try to continue to be active on some of the free gardening websites. I find the information there just as informative as what's here.

See Ya!

oh darn....I'll miss you but hope to see you around.

I snapped a few pics this morning, the garden is looking very happy. A couple of bright flower pictures just for fun.

Oooo, Mary! I like your nicotiana!

Are those four o'clocks in that little bed? Is the tall purple one the Nicotiana?

Thanks Girls! Those are all nicotiana except the lobelia in the blue pot. I got on a nicotiana kick this year and have them in several places. Just wanted to see how they will do.

The red one is Baby Bella: http://parkseed.com/nicotiana-baby-bella/p/51475-PK-P1/

and the purfume deep purple is: http://parkseed.com/flowering-tobacco-perfume-deep-purple-hybrid/p/01380-PK-P1/

I'm surprised that post posted. I finally clicked out because it was taking so long....2 or 3 minutes.

Wow! Really lookin' nice, MaryMc! Great garden, great pics!

T-rock, I'll be looking for you where ever you post...gotta keep up with this years garden and see what you're canning. :>)

Shoe (expecting a hard frost/freeze tonight, dagnabbit)

MaryMc, any of them fragrant?

Thank you Shoe - I'm enjoying the gardens.

TX_, yes, fragrant. And they are night bloomers.

I need to get some pictures, but good progress in the garden. Prepped the soil and planted more cucumbers and sweet potatoes today. I started the cucumbers in peat pellets, in a Jiffy Greenhouse on a heat mat. Had 100% germination! That is unbelievably better than the direct-sown seeds from a few weeks ago. I used the pellets to fill in all the gaps on the first row then planted a second row of cucumbers. I planted as soon as the plants were starting to show the littlest bit of a true leaf. These are the 'Pickle Bush' variety. They did really well for me last year. I'll be starting my butternut squash, 'Burpee's Butterbush' in pellets, on the heat mat too. I hope to get them into the garden in a week or two.

The sweet potatoes are 'Vardeman', which are also supposed to be a bush variety. I planted 50 plants, but with relatively close spacing of 12" between plants. According to George's Sweet Potato farm (the source of the slips) the closer planting will give more uniform sized sweet potatoes. Everything got a good soaking with the water can, but I'm hoping for a rain on Sunday.

Okra, 'Orange Jing' and 'Clemson Spineless' will be going in this week. I will probably direct seed it tomorrow with the Earthway seeder. The problem with the seeder is that I can't pre-soak the seeds and I have to sew thickly enough to allow for germination difficulty with my crusty soil. May use the seeder, but secure the chain that covers so I can go back and add a light covering of sand after seeding.

Also need to get another batch of corn planted. I have had poor germination on the first two batches (seed from last year) so I will double plant this year. Not sure if this batch will be Sugar Dots or Peaches and Cream. Both seem to be comparable, so I may flip a coin.

Tomatoes are all blooming, some have fruit setting from the first batch of blooms. Some of the broccoli is bolting, but the crop hasn't been a complete loss. I need to get the broccoli planted in the fall next time, rather than spring. That or I am going to have to plant at Christmas for a spring crop. : )

The other spring vegetables, lettuce, snap peas, spinach, and beets are all progressing, but also could have been planted earlier. We hare having temperatures consistently in the 80's, so the spring crops are a little bit warmer than optimum. The bulb onions are doing terrifically well. The tops are all in the 18"-24" range and the bulbs are starting to form. It looks like I will have plenty of yellow, white, and red onions!

That concludes this week's Hutto farm report.... : )

Luv, your report. I just found my first Volunteer tomato plant last night, its only 3" tall but it looks as good as any that I started. Along with some Malabar Spinach and something that looks familiar but...

Its supposed to cool off a little next week, 70s during the day and 50s at night. LUV these temps but could do without the humidity.

And the storms we're supposed to get Saturday and Sunday...

Transplanted 12 sweet peppers this morning after setting out all the flowers I purchased yesterday.

The garden is looking prettier already!

Disappointed that the rain we were supposed to have turned into a miss. I think we have had about .02" inches today. I will be pulling out the hoses tomorrow. I just wish that it was less than 175' from my garden to the nearest faucet. That was definitely poor planning on someone's part....

D

I've often wanted to add a water faucet off the laundry room where I have an herb garden. DH says "fugetaboutit". It's just off the laundry room!!! How hard could it be? Anyway, we put down that spaghetti tubing under the gardens and lady banks hedge. Quick connects on the ends of all hoses and the bib connectors to the spaghetti tubing. Each hose has a brass fitting before the quick connect that allows me to turn off and then moderate the flow. So I turn the faucet on before leaving the patio, haul the hose to where it's needed, turn the moderator valve and let 'er rip - or drip as the case may be.

A couple of gardens are equipped with a timer at the hose bib and I use that in summer when hand watering and/or hooking up is too time consuming. ATM manually hooking things up works okay.

Hope this made sense.