2020 garden thread

Since work has slowed to a crawl it looks like there will be plenty of time to hang out in the garden this spring. Got most of my tomato plants in the ground two weeks ago. Cool weather stuff hanging in there. Hope the summer heat doesn’t come early to south central Texas this year...

Kale, garlic, spinach


Swiss chard

 

I have snow in my garden

 

I've decided to tone down the hot peppers this year after the scorpions last year. These are two week old scotch bonnet sprouts under the grow light. Only got 5 up so far.

 

I'm jealous, but happy to see others' green.


Here's where we're at [emoji1]

 

Started weeding & cleaning in the decorative beds. Have early spring seeds in - we just had some rain, I need to see if they've sprouted yet! ;-) Cilantro, bunching onions, sugar snap peas, spinach. Have a little more I need to get in the ground - chard, mesclun mix - but I have to weed another bed to be able to plant. Work has been super busy (I work in global health research at a university...) so I haven't had much time during the day and have been super lazy after work and this past weekend. I think spouse will guilt me into it ;-)

 

We have California poppies blooming all over our back yard right now. Never planted them but the birbs gave us a gift I guess til husband starts weeding and planting later in the month. Beautiful orange blossoms.

 

Thanks for starting the thread. I have a question for @Joe as to a tomatoe I found — Wisconsin 55. I bought it but have Wisconsinites ever heard of such a thing? Also, champions, early girl, & marzinera(?) a new one on me.
Then of course basil and cilantro and sweet peppers and pepperoniini (?). prices were wild this year for a plant as compared to previous years. But what can you do when lazy.
Went with the full meal deal this year to cover squirrels, deer, armadillos. birds, and neighbors.

Saw the sun today for a brief confirmation. Rainy rainy.
Looking forward to other endeavors.

 

@bubbakitty I asked the gardener in the family and she said they are sold locally, but she wasn't sure of the numbers. Too early for talk of tomatoes here, dusting of snow this morning.

 

Thanks joe. Just know that ‘Texas’ is applied to a lot of things with nothing to do with us. Looking forward to their growth.

 

Last two moves we've downsized lot size significantly, from a half-acre to 15,000 sf to about 7,000 sf. So that's from two-dozen citrus, four huge raised beds and two in-ground and trellised beds of berries to several raised beds to ...

 

Wow. That’s a lot. I’ve got 14x12’. And am busy. Ha. Great pics

 

Far too early for us yet, but I am getting ready to get my seeds for the year. I will start them inside with my grow light and see how that goes this year.

 

Be careful where you put the grow lights. I got a red/blue LED light and the neighbors thought we were regressing to our hippie days when it showed in the window.

 

Speaking of which, I have a friend who put himself through law school growing and selling pot. When he got out he went to work for ... the DA. Too funny.

 

I was on a conference call this afternoon - husband in the basement, did some indoor seed starts with lettuce & a couple tomatoes.

 

I have the same light and my backyard lights up VERY obviously when I use it. My neighbors had already mentioned it in passing a few months back and asked me if I was growing "stuff" and I answered very bluntly "yup". Quick conversation... Totally legal here in Ontario so all good either way. Still it was funny to see his reaction when I answered the way I did.

 

I posted my pics of my nasty weed ridden beds on the I'm bored thread. I cleaned them all out. Now I was ready to go buy plants. Saw an email from our safety officer at work stating bad thunderstorms this week with severe Friday - Sunday with large hail. Argh. May go buy the plants and wait till the storms pass. I have lost many a plant due to spring hail.

 

We've had some weird up and down weather temps too. Some nights recently in the mid to low 30s.
Husband is still trying to figure out how he wants to plant the back yard.
We decided to just keep pots of succulents and continue with eco-friendly stuff in the front.
He's eager to get planting too. Best of luck, @Valgal.

 

@Valgal. I’d say go for it. This is a site about gambling but DAMN, 3.49 and 2.49 and 2.99 for plants that not too long ago were in 6 paks for 1.99 is an investment.
I’d put them on the back porch (if covered) and let them see how lucky they are to avoid hail the size of manhole covers (Texas).....they could be more bountiful as a result for a win-win situation. (granted the 6 packs were spindly and lacking, but in a couple of weeks or so you were thinning to gain space. The more expensive are mature but really.)

 

We built and moved into our new home last August so we have no gardens yet

Waiting for the driveway installation that was to occur the spring to plan the landscaping. Not sure if driveway installation is considered "construction" which hasn't been shut down here yet. Guess I'd better contact the paving contractor.

I am really missing my gardens today; it is a beautiful sunny day perfect for spring garden clean up.