STARTING OUR SPRING VEGGIE GARDEN STAGE 5

Looks great, Stephanie. I love Blackberries.

huum
I think I might be planting my onions too deep, looking at your Stephanietx.

I plant them about 1" deep, just up to my knuckle on my pointer finger.

oookkk still a lot to learn about onions ...

All of your garden photos and comments from all of you are great and so interesting to me. Long Island just starting like me and Texas beginning their harvests. I love DG.
Anyway, my garden is coming along great so far, but tonight we are supposed to get a real cold front from the north and lasting through Wed. It has been so warm and lovely that I went ahead and planted things that hate cold, like cucumbers and squash. The beans and corn are up and growing fast. My hubby and I will have to cover tender things with remay later today and hope for the best. I have been a gardener long enough to know I should have waited.
The deer fence my DH put around the garden is wonderful and I am enjoying tending plants without getting caught in the netting I used before this year. Can't tell you how many times I related to Peter Rabbit.
I plan to take photos of my garden after this cold goes away and hopefully it doesn't take away any plants with it.

I'm thrilled to report that I have beautiful squash plants that are just starting to bloom and up until yesterday I had done nothing to protect them. I did put tulle over them yesterday and today male and female flowers opened. I don't see any signs of the dreaded SVB on the plants. I have no idea what the difference is except it stayed cold so long.

Lisa,

Will you be hand-pollinating your squash? If they are covered, the bees can't work the blossoms and move pollen from plant to plant. I've always understood that you could cover _until_ they started blooming.

David

dreaves,
I am hand-pollinating my zucchini because they are under cover.
No sign of SVB yet.

Congrats to all of you who are out-witting that dreaded Squash Vine Borer!!!

Just a reminder that the SVB has TWO egg-laying seasons here in Texas...

I haven't even started zucchini yet, but, I believe I still have time to start the two plants I hope to get fruit from.

Tomatoes are ripening every day now! Picking Mule Teams and Beauty Beefsteaks that are averaging 7-8 ounces each.

I'm happy!

P.S. I have at LEAST 6 bell pepper fruits growing inside under lights, LOL!

..aaarrrggghhh............

How come you hardly post NO pictures of what you say you do harvest?
It will be nice to see some pictures of what you talking.

Tomatoes season is definitely starting here.
I harvested some tomatoes today before the bad weather did start. Lots of different colors and shapes this year.
So far, my biggest surprise has been JEUNNE FLAMME. A yellow tomato with orange flesh = its taste is amazing.
Also CHOCOLATE CHERRY = so good !
Disappointed again by MOMOTARO tomato, second year planting this variety. I have two plants in the ground and they both have only 3 tomatoes.
Also GOLDEN JUBILEE this year is very slow ... but I don't remember if it is always like that ... huumm
Eggplants and more okra will be ready soon.

I'll try to post more pictures of what I'm talking about...

I got to thinking at one point, "how many different pictures of the same veggies do I need to post over and over, LOL?

So, I figured I'd just lay back awhile until I had something really spectacular to post a picture of -- like that HUGE cluster of tomatoes I've been praying to pull before the birds or the worms get to them. They're still green, but, I'll rush right home and snap a picture for ya'll, ok?

Hugs!

Linda

It is really lovely out and I should go plant my 4 Lady Bell Pepper plants that I bought at the nursery today but I will leave them to tomorrow. Had to really wrack my brain for where I could possibly put them but have come up with an idea. I didn't know anything about the variety but just Googled it and found out it turns red. Supposed to be a heavy in fruit producing. You can eat it green or wait for it to turn red. Sounds good to me. Stuffed Peppers anyone?

Yes, David I will hand pollinate them, I usually do anyway but the plants aren't usually this beautiful. I have zuke, yellow crook neck, and white scallop squash.

I won't be posting pics since everybody knows what they look like, and mine don't look any different. The pics just take the thread longer to load.

I'm with Linda " same pics if the same veggies over and over " seems redundant but if something special shows up I'll post a pic. This is a gardening site so most of us know what veggies and flowers look like.

DrThor, I see you use pine needles as mulch. Is that to help acidify the soil?

Where do you get the pine needles from?

Ok. I raced home and snapped pics, inside and out.

Mind you, most of the toms are outside on thevines. I've been catching them soon as they blush, and setting them on the counter.

Pic #1 is 3.3 lbs. from last week.
Pic #2 is 4lbs. I picked this evening.
Pic #3 is the bells growing inside...
Pic #4 is my 3x10' tomato jungle

I really like that Tomato jungle !!! The first three make me hungry ..lol
Here's I close as I am to my first Tomatoes from the garden..

Juhur,
Thank you!

Your babies will be ready in no time!

That Jungle is incredible. Lol and those tomatoes are beautiful. What kind are they?

Juhur-you are a little ahead of me. Some of my plants have been in the ground since the beginning of April but just sat there. My guess is it was just too cold especially the soil temps. Since it has warmed up everything has grown like crazy and is really blooming. I'm growing many more hybrids Im wondering how they will do up against the O/Ps. Still wondering how I'm going to cage everything planting is so much more fun. One year I drove a stake in the ground and tied the whole tomato vine up to it. It wasn't pretty but it worked.

1lisac; Those are the Broad Ripple Currant ,,Been warmer here than normal . even warmer at night than last year ..Possibly though a 47 or a 43 could happen Friday night .. If it does I will lose them ..

Thanks, Lisa!

Believe it or not, I started 11 different heirloom varieties, including 4 New Big Dwarfs I had hoped to grow for the first time. Well , leave it to me to dole out all the seedlings and manage to keep only TWO varieties for myself!!!

I'm growing Mule Team and Beauty Beefsteaks. And I think I got one NBD in. It still hasn't set many blooms yet, but it's in a good spot.

Check this out. YouTube videos

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9CLWdctgzOA&feature=youtube_gdata_player

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zzuIFTfRnEc&feature=youtube_gdata_player

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aG5ZWXbdxL0&feature=youtube_gdata_player


This message was edited May 21, 2013 11:00 PM

We had an inch of rain last Friday and then lots of hot and muggy weather since. My toms are growing like crazy, the peppers have perked up and are finally growing and the corn I think has doubled in size over the past few days.

Helloooooo summer! Okay maybe not... getting into the 40's this weekend. But 90 and hot and sticky yesterday feels like summer to me.

Solace,
I use pine needle in my vegetable garden because that what I have been thought in my gardening classes.
It is very good to protect the soil in our heat of the summer and to keep the moisture down deep.
I have been using pine needles for years with great success.
I buy it at my local garden store. It is very cheap.

This message was edited May 22, 2013 8:55 AM

Juhur,
your tomatoes look amazing.
You know that your plants are as big as mine ... even if your zone is much cooler.

Drthor, I just don't have the time and I don't see a reason to post a pic of normal things. Looking thru the threads I'm not the only one. But that's just my way, not the only way.

Pea blossoms!!!! My first pea blossoms of this spring have appeared. My Norli peas that I have inground in a section of veggie garden have blossoms started.

Drthor- you have a 75% advantage in your wifi signals than many country folk do- when pictures are trying to load on dialup systems it can take an hour for each picture. Plus in the country when a picture does finally load, it can be 'kicked' out by city dsl speeds. Many of us love to see your pictures ! They have helped many gardeners who dont ever get brave enuff to contribute, but learn from what we show them

Yummm!

drthor ; The night temperatures have been upper 50's to upper 60's for nearly three weeks , a few 70's at night . plants grew good with that.
Tomorrow night 42 and Friday 47 could make a loss of all that , plants are to big for me to cover with what I have ..
Only saying that it has been nearly as warm here as your southern temperatures ..

I have most backed up if I lose any , I am still going to growl and be in a mood if it happens that way though .


Redundancy is named practice ,, If you see and do often enough , you educate , Most of the plant and garden for me has been redundant and learn by doing ,, and it is still that way..lol

kittriana and juhur7 you are the best !

Today I harvested all my garlic.
I spent $4 on garlic from Sam's club and I grew garlic for a year ! WOW !
The very large bulbs grew in direct sun light, while the very small in the shade (duuhhhh)

I also harvested a few onions.

WOW ! I don't think my house will be visited by "vampires" any time soon !

Oh my, look at all that garlic.

Finially got to planting out my sunflowers that I grew myself from seed. I didn't have any last year as I just didn't get to starting seed. I have 9 sunflowers so that should be plenty. I love sunflowers as I think they are so pretty. Plus they draw the goldfinches. They come check out those flower heads as soon as they see them bloom. And are eating on them as soon as the seeds start to ripen.

I have a few Garlic bulbs , they will be for growing a while and not eating ,small garden and while they are getting started I will let them grow .
Red snake traditional , Siberian Red and Chesnook , Of which I ended up with one bulb of ""after critter ""
Of course I have been snipping bites from the garlic ..

The Goldfinches are everywhere when the Sunflowers and Coreopsis begin to seed ,, The large Bumble bees are always about the Sunflowers also . I don't have any pic's but a few years back I had a 30 inch bloom on a Mammoth Russian ,, some fun there .. Sunflower Umbrella ..lol

Yes indeed those do!!! and' I did not mean to pass saying those garlic bulbs look great (or yummy) Great plant when you can grow them !

This message was edited May 22, 2013 4:21 PM

Those garlic plants are beautiful, drthor. Great job! Sam's Club for sure in November!

This message was edited May 22, 2013 3:21 PM

NEW THREAD HAS BEEN CREATED: PART 6!!!

GO HERE: http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1314022/

Never said anything about drthor's pics I just said I wouldn't be posting any unless it's something unusual....don't know how my comment had anything to do with drthor? I see no reason to post a pic of a squash. Lol most of the threads I'm on have more text then pics...the pics are a great way to show a problem or clarify something but I never said anything about drthors pics. except that pics can make loading slow. I don't see any reason to make something slow so I can post a pic of a squash. LOL

It goes that way sometimes ! lol ^_^