How's the vegetable garden doing this year? Picture of my huge bowl that I use to collect leafy green, and couple of the asparagus I am getting. This will be the first year I have enough at once for a meal! Spinach and asparagus harvest so far, potatoes sprouting in bags of leaves, tomato, cuke, winter squash starts planted today. That raised bed soil felt warm and cozy to my hands.
My vegetable garden area is a mess. The deer fence is sagging, and the raised beds and in between are full of weeds. I really need to get it in shape before Mother's Day weekend - the time traditional date for setting out tomatoes and peppers. The only thing going on with attention to getting it in shape is that Mike got a dump truck load of really aged horse manure from a friend of his. Sally, that asparagus looks great - I didn't realize it can be harvested this early in the season.
OOOOLLL, Sally has purple. My new purple passion hasn't come up yet, but I've enjoyed a few early sprouts for at least a week. My first cutting was yesterday, maybe a half #. I will cut again tomorrow. I'm still a little behind on a few things but my strawberries are growing like weeds, my taters are in, and hopefully I get my seeding beds ready tomorrow for my spinach, lettuce, radishes, and possible a few turnips. I also need to get my cabbage, Kohlrabi, Brussels sprouts, and broccoli out of the GH and into the ground. I just got news my fingerling potatoes are in the mail and I'm still waiting for word on my sweet potatoes.
Darn it! Holly was on my computer again. LOL
I am such a newbie veggie gardener, I have to learn all the basics when it comes to timing the seed planting and planting outdoors, figuring the layout of the garden etc etc...It's kinda frustrating but I'll get it eventually(wish my dad was still around to show me the ropes)
I started peas inside but I guess I should have just planted them directly out, all died but 1, so I planted that one and then direct sowed seeds also lettuce....we'll see what happens.
I have a tomato plant and a pepper plant...guess they can go in next week???? The herbs will stay in containers on deck so they are close to the kitchen
Jen--
I can tell you that veggies like Peas, Beans, Cukes, C antelopes, W-Mellons, Gourds, Squash,etc...all need to
be directly planted in the garden when weather warms up. Usually, on little hills of soil--3-4 seeds per hill...
They do not take well to being transplanted.
Re herbs--one of them is a serious perennial--Rosemary. It can stay outside in a bed all winter--and you can still harvest.
In time--it grows to the size of small shrubs.
Well--there is plenty of people here to give you all kinds of advice on Veggie gardening....
G.
Jen. I hear you on the wanting our dads or moms or grandparents who knew how to do so much garden wise and could advise us and answer our questions as we ask them, on the spot, in the garden. Maybe there are some veggie gardeners close by, or a community garden where you could visit and hang out and get shown the ropes and learn the many 'rules of thumb' that are useful in your area and soil/weather conditions. I ask a lot of questions at my local Farmers Market about veggies and how they are grown.
That's how I met "Garlic Man" who is my garlic guru....I do what he does when he does it and hope to have some garlic to harvest in June from garlic I bought from him and planted last fall. Maybe if we appear, the teacher will teach us!
That said, you already have learned a great deal about the "flower" side of growing. So you know that some flowers are Spring lovers that fade in the hot hots of full summer. Veggie comparables are called 'cool season' and are grown in early spring or sometimes again in fall when it is cooler. Peas. brocolli, spinach, lettuce fall into this group.
Tomatoes, peppers, corn, beans, squash, melons like a warm soil to grow in and no frost and plenty of sunshine and many days of it to set fruit for us to harvest. So, for tomatos, etc we start them indoors to give them a head start on that long season of harvest bounty, even though we could just plant the seeds in our gardens (Who hasn't heard of tomatoes growing in compost piles?!) Mothers Day is a pretty good rule of thumb for setting out our indoor starts that we have gradually acclimated to outside conditions. The soil has warmed up and the danger of a killing frost is passed for the most part. They might 'just sit there' and then 'take off' when they reach their favorite warm days/warm nights weather. We just need to give them water, but not too much and keep the weed competition down along the way and probably deal with insect/critter competition for the harvest.
Here is a discription of a tomato I will try to grow this year. Couldn't resist the name
Little White Rabbit Tomato from http://www.amishlandseeds.com/tomatoes_colors.htm
"LITTLE WHITE RABBIT TOMATO
- also called "White Rabbit Tomato." This just might be the sweetest name ever for the cutest tiny white tomato I have grown. These teensy babies were nearly exactly the same size as my "White Mexican Currant Tomato." They were about the size of large peas (3/4" or less). I would have called them a wild currant type by their size, but they are were actually developed by Joe Bratka of NJ. Fabulous uniquely flavored fruits taste quite tropical and sweet. The flavor is so wonderful that they are truly addicting, so it is lucky that they are so prolific and productive. So you will have enough to keep eating all you want to. The plant grows rather low to the ground and resisted staking no matter how much I tried, maybe planting by a fence would a good solution. More of a creamy, very pale yellow color than a true pure white. They were the very last of my tomatoes to succumb to frost."
Hey, You and Joe are both from The Garden State! Good luck and happy continuing ed!
Got somethings planted before the rain came, and got a bunch more beds ready. I wish I could have gotten more of my direct sowing done before the rain but, you'll hear no complaints from me, we really, really needed it. I had started watering some perennial beds and was about to start shrubs and trees. I checked the garden last eve and only had about 2"s of moisture then. I hope these heavy rains soak deep.
You got rain today Ric?
I got okra, bush beans, squash planted and some strawberries moved tho maybe it wasn't the best time to move them. Picked another pound of spinach. its bolting. Garlic is hanging in there, shallots look great.
Yep Sally, we got a lot, today also, which probably impacted our plant sale.
Jen, I have often found myself thinking the same thing about my own Dad. He's been gone for well over 20 years now, and I bet he'd be really surprised to see how much I have grown to LOVE to "play in the dirt" just like he used to. I find myself looking at all the little veggie starts and racks of seeds at work and thinking about him and remember what he used to do when starting seeds etc... and TRYING to remember others... There's probably about a million "wish-I-knews" for every 1 clear memory. When I had "the other neighbors", before the YOUNG ones I have now, I latched onto old Tom like glue. He was in his 70's when we first met and he was out working his small plot and on the lawn and little flower beds aaallll the time. I stuck to him like stink on feet with all I had. He's the one who gave me my Stonecrop Sedum (which he called "Live Forever", and which seems to be doing just that!), and my Jerusalem Cherries that multiply like bunnies. Oh how I cherish those gifts!!! Since he's been gone, the next best thing, so to speak, has been Boss Man at work. Granted, he's a little young, only in his mid 60's, but he still knows a LOT and is always happy to share and teach. I am thankful he has been put in my path.
Coleup is sooooo right, if you could find just ONE person in your community somehow, that "one" right person, to connect to, you'd be all set!! Maybe someone at your local farmer's market, or local garden center... one of the "good ol' guys". Those connections seem to be the life-blood to some of us.... I understand.
Thanks for all the great info, I do have a gardening buddy but he's in the hospital right now and has a trach in so he can't even talk :( prayers would be appreciated for Jim, he's been in since March 11th for complications after surgery to have a tumor removed
Prayers for Jim on their way right now!!! (and a few extra HUGs for you, too!)
Ditto to what Speedie wrote. Hope Jim is able to recover and be back playing in the dirt real soon. And a prayer of thanks for all the garden mentorers and gurus past present and future.
Here no major garden veggie planting yet due to wet or cold or no time. Baby tomatoes are living in my van until weather/soil warms. Will plant them either pre or post swap this weekend along with the goodies from the swap. Hoping this will be a better tomato year than last two. "Man cannot live on garlic alone"
Am thinking of doing something similar to what Ric did last year and erect a temporary wire and metal staked fence to tie my tomatoes to. Could box them in with fencing if the deer don't let them be . Right now great tomatoes are only dreams.
#1 rule for gardeners: Don't plant mint in soil that has been amended and is easily tilled, and surely not in a veggie plot.
If you disobey, you will start thinking of the endearing qualities of things like kudzu, multiflora rose, Bradford pear, and crown vetch. So far I've removed 2, 1/4 yard wheelbarrows of tops and 2 of roots, with probably 2 more loads of roots to go. I have never seen roots like this. I think there must be 2' of root for every foot of top. The only thing good is the soil falls from the roots easily because you can't lift the digging fork. Just tipping it back and shaking it frees most of the soil and you can pull the root mat back. This all started with a couple of 4" pots (from a swap and not labeled hazardous) stuck in an unused corner of the garden a couple of years ago.
Oh well, another lesson learned, the hard way.
Anyone want spearmint or chocolate mint at the swap?
This message was edited May 14, 2013 1:56 PM
Thanks, Judy
LOL, all my mints are in containers
Honest to goodness I almost included in my earlier post that my favorite thing to interplant with tomatoes is mint!. I think mine was peppermint. I loved making tabouli or throwing lots of fresh mint in a gallon jar for sun tea. Even made mint jelly one year. Sure, Ric I'd take a clumpy mat or two of spearmint! Don't your chickens eat it? Just hang those clumps upside down in a dry place for a week or so and then strip the stems for all the dried mint herb you want. I have used the dried out dead root mats as a mulch around some plants like little collars...not sure it did any good, but I liked it. Probably inspired by my first gardening book by Alicia Bay Laurel called Living On The Earth.
I have 2 good sized pots with Spearmint in them as well--if anyone wants...
Also--8 4" pots with another mint--NOID--it has a mild flavor--not too minty...
Still have some Montauk Daisies available too....
Will bring an assortment of empty pots. I can always get more.....and my shed id full as it is...
OK! Out to sort/label my "Promised" plants....just me home today...better get off this computer
and get to work...
G.
My mint in a pot always ends up climbing up one side and looking foolish.
Prune it back and eat it! =)
I don't think I lost any plants. I got the old mint area re dug and ready to till, a few showers held me up today, but I did sow a few more seeds. Red beets sun flowers, and fancy morning glories, I put them on a heat mat to try and push them. After we pull more plants for the swap I want to start some of Holly's caladiums in the greenhouse to try and push them a bit. I put some more mint comments on the menu thread, it seemed more appropriate.
Where do you all grow your fennel? I've read that fennel is allelopathic and should not be planted with any other vegetables. I have a small yard, so I have no choice but to plant it near *something.*
Happy and I saw a beautiful fennel at the Arlington sale last week. It was tall, bushy, and planted in a vegetable garden (not sure what was planted near it).
I have a beautiful bronze fennel. I have it planted in the flower garden right next to the Veggie Garden. There are tons of plants growing right next to it without any problem so far. I've had it about 3 years now.
I had a huge bronze fennel too between other things that didn't seem terribly bothered. When its huge and thick and feathery, its striking.
Okra and beans are coming up. Tomatos blooming. Cukes and squash taking their good old time getting over the transplant. Garlic, shallots looking great. Spinach need to be picked and is about done for. Asparagus going on.
I have now planted my pickling Cuke seeds twice now--and nothing is coming up.
I think the Robins are picking them out.....or whomever...
Next strategy---plant them in pots--let them grow a few inches--and then plant them in the bed...
Sprinkle something yukky around them that smells bad...
OR--put my usual plastic fencing around each little hill. They DO grow fast...
Things are late as it is for all my planting--don't need any additional delays....
G.
I have bronze fennel, too, in the round bed closest to the street. Very pretty.
Jan, I missed seeing your bronze fennel! I'll go ahead and plant it next to the lavender.
Caveat: make sure you deadhead the flowers or it will seed ALL over the place. Not so much now, but, when that bed was more open there were seedlings covering the whole bed. I was better at deadheading last year. LOL. Also it is a plant that is used as food for (which butterfly?) so you will see eaten areas. Now last year I didn't see that as much. I love the bronzy, airy leaves. I have never used the bulbs as food. I just use it for its looks.
Is this the type of fennel where you can eat the seeds or is it just ornamental?
I believe you can eat all fennel seeds. Now, those who grow fennel seeds for specific culinary use, probbly have certain varieties. also if you want bulbs you need to select that variety, according to catalogs. THe bronze has a kinda thick base but it won't get big and juicy.
Gita- I fear slugs are getting your cukes. I put my started cukes out and overnight they got eaten on. The seeds I planted ntext to them, have not seen either. Basilbabies got eaten overnight. I have the hardest time growing basil!
I keep the basil in a container on my deck for easy kitchen access
I think I may have a groundhog out back, something ate my marigolds to the stem. I may have to string a loop of fence around that bed. I did foil one groundhog from entering the barn, piles of rocks and some fresh urine drove him away.
Sally--
My cukes were just seeds--planted about 1/2" deep in little mounds...
Who/What would sniff them out and eat them?
I have always grown basil in big pots which I keep on my Patio. Parsley also.
It is more convenient to harvest and keep an eye on.
This year--I planted the ONLY two Italian basil seedlings that made it--in my raised bed.
and also about 4 bunches of parsley. Since I am not using it for tomatoes--I have room for other things...
Have to say that planting all that Romaine lettuce was not worth it.
Half of them just keeled over all rotted out. Lifted right off the ground--base all mushy.
Tried a couple times to harvest some of the leaves for a salad--but they were not crisp at all.
Haven't tried the "hearts" yet...Might as well--as I think they deserve to be used up before all of them keel over....
I did sprinkle some Arugula seeds amid all the lettuce--and some of them came up.
I am just NOT meant to be a vegetable grower....have enough farm stores nearby
to just go get THEIR fresh stuff..
Gita
Ric--
We cross-posted...
Rags soaked in clear Ammonia will also drive groundhogs away.
Need "refreshing" now and them..
G.
Probably more fun to provide fresh urine. Heehee
The arrogant little critter actually tried sneaking into the barn via the doorway last evening. I was there and left out a war hoop and started throwing things. I didn't know groundhogs had a warp drive, anyway he used his to retreat to the woods. I hope this one is smart enough to allow himself to be trapped and moved to an ungardened area, my phaser doesn't have a stun setting.
Jan: Does the bronze fennel require sun? It is so beautiful.
This message was edited May 24, 2013 8:06 AM
We have 2 (maybe 3) baby groundhogs with their mother living under the shed in the back yard, along with a few bunnies. It is fun to watch them run when they hear something.
Mine is in full sun
My groundhog hatred took a softer turn the first time I saw momma and baby together.
Addy's groundhog hatred runs deep and visceral though.
8 ^P
